


Out of the Fire

by meyari



Series: Left Behind But Not For Long [2]
Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-29
Updated: 2011-07-29
Packaged: 2017-10-21 22:57:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being abandoned in the Multiverse, Jason did what he had to in order to get home.  He found help, learned math and science, and created what he needed to travel worlds without anyone else's help.  He thought that finding his world, the 'real' world, would end all his problems but instead he found that that was when the real problems began.  If only his family had known how to tell the difference between him and his doppelganger life would have been a lot easier after his return.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of the Fire

It didn't feel real.

Bruce knew that it was real. He knew. After all his battles through time reclaiming his identity and sense of self, not to mention defeating Darkseid's plans for him, he knew that he'd finally made his way home.

But it didn't feel like home.

Everything was off, different from what it should have been. It wasn't just the changes wrought by the Black Lanterns. To Bruce it felt as though there was something fundamentally wrong with the world. He had commented on it to Clark but the confused negation he'd received in return had kept him from asking any of the others.

Rather than deal with the affectionate worry that Dick, Tim, Steph, Alfred and even Damian were directing towards him, Bruce went outside and walked to the cliff that overlooked the ocean. No matter where he went since his return he felt that faint edge of wrongness surrounding him. A shimmer of light and sound unlike anything Bruce had ever heard before sounded to his right.

"Hey Bruce."

He whirled and stared at a Jason Todd that he hadn't seen since… ever. The images that Tim had called up of Jason in prison looked nothing like this Jason. The red hair on that Jason had bothered Bruce, though he wasn't entirely certain why. This Jason had the black hair that Bruce remembered, though with an added white streak. The real difference was in the way he held himself. He stood tall and confident. Nothing but calm control and acceptance shown in his eyes; the anger that had always marked Jason Todd when he was younger appeared to have been burned away, replaced by confident strength.

"How did you get out of prison?" Bruce demanded because he knew that he should be asking. It was important to ask. After what Jason had done he couldn't be allowed to wander around free.

"Never was in prison," Jason said with a shrug. He was focused almost entirely on a gauntlet wrapped around his left forearm, studying the lights and scrolling through some sort of menu. "Huh. Not centered here. Thought it would be."

"What would be?" Bruce asked.

"The Multiversal collapse effect," Jason said absently. "The other Jason's from a different world. He's like antimatter, just slower acting. His presence here is distorting reality. Hmmm. Looks like its centered somewhere in Gotham. I hope I can track it down soon. We're nearing the point of no return, thanks to fucking Temperance. Shoulda let me leave way sooner."

Bruce blinked at Jason. For the first time since his return the feeling of distance that was blocking him from engaging with reality dropped away. Something about Jason seemed to be waking his mind up, bringing him back. He stepped closer and started at discovering an invisible wall between them.

"Sorry, force field," Jason said with an apologetic little shrug. "The others don't look like they're going to listen so I think it's probably safer this way. I can't let them stop me."

"Who's Temperance and why would she stop you?" Bruce asked. "Stop you from doing what?"

"Temperance is a girl version of Tim from another 'verse," Jason explained with a huge grin that reminded Bruce of the boy who had tried to steal the Batmobile's tires so many years ago. "Stacked but fuck is she an evil bitch sometimes. She stopped me from finding home because I had a broken thigh and didn't want to take enough time to get back to full strength. I know, I know, getting patched up and resting is important but fuck it! If I'd been back even three weeks ago we wouldn't be in as much danger as we are."

"What are we in danger from?" Bruce asked a good bit more warily. There was always another threat, it seemed.

They both turned as Stephanie shouted from the house. She was running at them full speed with batarangs in her hands. Jason sighed at that, shaking his head as he finished his readings. He touched the pack strapped to his right thigh and Bruce felt a shiver of something sweep over him.

"If I don't deal with the other Jason and reverse the Multiversal collapse effect," Jason said completely seriously, "then this universe will become the functional equivalent of a black hole, sucking every other universe into it. Trillions upon trillions of people will die in this 'verse and every other 'verse. It shouldn't be too hard to fix. Slap a blocker collar on that fucker that stole my life, kick him back to his fucked up 'verse and then probably create a stabilizing device that restores reality to normal. We're close enough to the collapse point that I'm not sure things will go back to normal without it."

"When did you learn all this?" Bruce asked. He couldn't help but be a little amused that the boy who used to resent his lessons was spouting advanced science at Bruce.

"Hey, I had to learn it," Jason protested with a frustrated shrug. "It was that or never get home and I wasn't fucking allowing that."

"Get away from him!" Stephanie yelled as she ran down the hill towards them.

"Hey Steph," Jason called to her calmly. "Don't throw those. Force field."

He turned back to Bruce with far too much understanding in his eyes. It was as though he understood exactly how divorced from reality Bruce felt. Jason put a hand on Bruce's shoulder, squeezing gently.

"Give yourself some time," Jason advised. "You've been through fucking hell from what I could discover. It's going to take a bit before you're back to normal. And with that fucker in prison distorting reality around him it's not going to go back to normal easily. Catch your breath before you jump back into things."

"I'm not used to you being the wise one," Bruce murmured. Stephanie's batarangs bounced off of Jason's force field, making her curse.

"One thousand, six hundred and ninety-eight worlds will give a guy some perspective," Jason murmured back. "See you around, Bruce. Cut that out, Steph. You're not going to do any good kicking the damned thing."

"Don't you hurt Bruce!" Stephanie growled at Jason.

"As if." Jason rolled his eyes. "Got work to do. See ya."

He pressed his belt and disappeared in another flash of light and shimmering noise. Bruce stared at the spot where Jason had been standing. The feeling of wrongness had faded while Jason was there. It immediately crept back in. Stephanie hurried over and took Bruce's arm, checking him out with her eyes as if she was worried that he'd been hurt.

"I'm fine," Bruce snapped.

"He's just… Jason," Stephanie said with a worried look and shudder that conveyed far too clearly what she thought of Jason. "I don't know how he's getting out of prison or what he's doing but we've got to stop him."

"I need to talk to Superman," Bruce said. He turned and walked away, leaving Stephanie where she was. She scrambled for her batarangs and followed him. "There's something I need to check out right away."

"What did he say?" Stephanie asked. "What's going on?"

"It doesn't matter," Bruce said. "I need to talk to Clark _now_."

If Jason was right then everyone and everything around Bruce was affected by the distortion. They weren't seeing or thinking clearly. It explained many of the tiny instances of wrongness that had been troubling him, though there were other explanations as well. Clark had the Fortress, which had the best computers in the world. If he couldn't detect the problem then perhaps Jason was pulling an elaborate hoax.

Perhaps.

Or just maybe everything and everyone in the world were so strongly affected by the distortion that they couldn't see it, couldn't feel it. Bruce might be the only one who could because of what he'd just been through. Until he was certain one way or the other, he wasn't going to act. Better to be certain than possibly doom the entire Multiverse to destruction.

+++++

"What do you mean he left?" Tim demanded. "He just got back. Why would Bruce leave so abruptly?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you!" Steph said in obvious exasperation. "Jason was here. He talked to Bruce and then Bruce stormed off with Clark somewhere. I think they were headed to the Fortress of Solitude or something."

Tim's stomach did a very nasty flip at that thought of Jason getting out of prison and wandering around at will. A very long time ago he'd had a crush on both Dick and Jason. The events of the last few years had ensured that he no longer nursed either crush. Tim had become Dick's equal and from that new vantage point he could see all the ways that they would never work. Jason's actions had ensured that any fondness he'd felt for his putative brother had long since died a nasty death.

"How did he get out?" Tim asked.

"Are we sure it's him?" Dick asked from his place in front of the monitors.

"Of course it was," Steph said with an outraged expression. "I was there. I saw him, talked to him. It was Jason!"

"I don't see how," Dick said. He pointed a finger at the monitors, drawing both Tim and Steph over. "Jason is still in prison and all of the tracking we've placed on him says that he hasn't budged an inch."

Tim stared at Jason as he paced the length of his cell. It looked just like Jason. There was no way that it could be Jason. He'd tested the DNA in the vomit that the other Jason had left behind. Every single test Tim had run had been conclusive: Jason Todd had been on that roof, loosing his lunch. And yet, there was Jason Todd in the jail cell, pacing like a caged tiger.

"A double?" Tim suggested somewhat hesitantly. "I don't know how he would have switched places but it makes sense."

"But what is he up to and where did he get that stuff?" Steph asked. She didn't appear to expect an answer as she immediately kept talking. "He had a force field that was unlike anything I've ever seen. That gauntlet thing on his arm looked like some sort of computer. Not to mention the guns he was wearing! Who's backing him and why?"

None of them could come up with an answer to Steph's questions, no matter how hard they tried. In the end, Tim left and went to talk to Barbara. She had been the one to notify them of Jason's arrival. Hopefully she would have more information for them. He didn't dare hope that she would have heard from Bruce. Since his return Bruce had been very distant from them all. Tim could understand it even though it was somewhat painful personally. Traveling through time the way Bruce had been must have been incredibly difficult and painful.

Tim went on instant alert when he got to Barbara's place. He didn't have to touch the buzzer before the door clicked open. Rather than take the elevator up, Tim ran up the stairs, worried that something was wrong and that Barbara needed his help. His hunch was proven correct when he reached her rooms.

Jason was there, casually leaning against the wall just outside of striking range for Barbara's sticks.

"So, I was hoping that you could check my math," Jason said. "Seriously, I've been through the damned calculations so fucking many times that my eyes cross every time I look at them. I know there's something wrong in there but I'm just not seeing it."

"Math," Barbara said. "You."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jason sighed while rubbing the back of his neck. The white helmet was in his other hand. "I really hate all the fucking math but it was a survival skill. Think you can give it a look over?"

Tim could tell that Barbara knew he was there. It showed in tiny ways, including the way she significantly did not look in his direction. There was no sign that Jason had figured out that he was there until Tim eased into the room and reached into his pocket.

"Force field, Timmy," Jason sighed without looking at him. "You won't hit me. You might hit Babs when it rebounds. So lay off, will you?"

"You knew I was there," Tim stated. It came out with just the faint edge of a question to it, which finally made Jason turn and look at him.

"Proximity sensors," Jason said, holding up the arm with the gauntlet and helmet. "I always know when you guys are getting close."

The look in his eyes made Tim's heart do flips from the pit of his stomach right up into his throat. Tim hadn't seen Jason look at him this way in a very long time, probably forever. There was love and tenderness and so much sorrow and loss as he stared into Tim's eyes. It was like falling into the ocean, like coming home after being lost for a very long time.

Tim shook it off. He couldn't allow Jason to confuse him this way. Rather than say anything, Tim eased forward until he felt the leading edge of the force field. It tingled ever so slightly, making his fingers shiver with coolness as if he'd just touched a chunk of ice.

"Where did you get it?" Tim asked. He could hear the hostility in his voice and didn't bother to apologize.

"Another version of myself," Jason said and shrugged. The pain on his face made Tim want to stare. He acted as if Tim's attitude hurt him. "Much older, in his late fifties. He's the chief of police in a version of Gotham that's kind of like Blade Runner crossed with the Fifth Element with a dash of Samurai Jack. Really cool place. You're a scientist in that world."

"And you really expect us to believe this?" Tim challenged Jason.

He braced for the inevitable attack when Jason straightened up and stepped away from the wall. Instead of coming at Tim, Jason turned to Barbara with a sad smile. He tossed a small object to Barbara who automatically caught it.

"I gotta get going," Jason said. "Do check that out for me if you can. I'd really appreciate the help."

He pushed something on his belt and disappeared in a flash of light and sound. Tim hurried to Barbara's side. She held the little USB stick as if she was afraid it would explode. They exchanged looks and then Tim helped Barbara check the USB out. There were no viruses or hidden files on it that they could detect. Instead there was math that made Tim's head spin in its complexity.

"What is this?" Tim asked.

"He said… that it's for a device that will keep the Multiverse from collapsing in onto Gotham," Barbara said while working her way through the formulae. "This, this is way beyond anything I've ever seen, Tim. Jason couldn't do this. Whoever that was, he isn't Jason Todd. I don't care how much he looks like Jason, he isn't Jason."

"He doesn't act like Jason at all," Tim agreed.

"I know."

Neither of them mentioned the tender look that this Jason had given Tim. Barbara seemed as uncomfortable with it as Tim was. The odd thing was that Tim had felt like everything was returning to what it should be while that Jason was in the room. As soon as he left though, everything went back to normal, though the oddness of the experience had left a bad taste in his mouth.

"This is going to take some work," Barbara said. "I'll let you know what I learn."

"Thank you."

Tim left to report back to Dick and Steph. Hopefully they would have heard from Bruce. Whatever this Jason was up to, it was far beyond what the real Jason usually did. They needed to figure it out and stop him as soon as possible. He really didn't like the idea of some sort of device that affected the Multiverse. Messing with that was a recipe for disaster on a scale Gotham probably wouldn't survive.

+++++

It didn't matter that he was stuck in this fucking jail. They could take away his ability to move around, to talk to people. Sure, it sucked that he couldn't go where he wanted or kill the assholes that needed to be killed. So many things weren't possible now that they'd locked him up inside this oversized cage. But it didn't matter.

Jason was free.

Bruce was gone; his Bruce instead of that fucking patsy who couldn't tell one Jason from another, of course. This world was pretty close to the one that he'd come from but it was a million, billion times better. No more Ra's ruling his fucking life, no more doing murder for hire, no more stupid plots and nearly dying for causes that he hated and didn't support. If he was going to kill someone it was because he wanted to kill the fuckers.

Still, he did need to get the fuck out of this jail. Unfortunately, it didn't look like little Timmy was going to fall for the 'family' crap and spring him a second time. There hadn't been a single visit since he'd been arrested this time. Someone, probably Dickie-boy, had warned the guards not to let Jason talk to anyone, so he hadn't been able to make allies to get out of this place.

Meals and exercise were about the only times that he got to move around, so Jason enjoyed them, while studying the prison layout for any weakness. The food here sucked but at least it was free. Jason grabbed a tray and took his turn in the line, stalking into the lunchroom to look for a place to sit that might let him talk to someone useful. Hadn't found the right ally or weakness in the place yet but that didn't mean that he wouldn't eventually. Every single place had its weaknesses and every single person could be turned with the right trigger. He just had to find them and exploit them.

A shimmer of light and sound made Jason whirl just in time to see his opposite appear.

"Well, this suits you." The other Jason was wearing a white helmet that was suspiciously like Jason's red helmet despite the fucking color. "Got something else that suits you, too."

"The fuck?" Jason snarled at him. "How did you get in here?"

"Like I'd ever tell you."

The guards were shouting around them, charging at Jason and the other Jason. The lead guard ran face first into a force field and rebounded with blood coming from his nose. The other Jason didn't pay any attention to the guards. None of the other inmates were close enough to be any help, not that they would. They all knew to stay the fuck away from Jason.

Jason hurled his tray at the other Jason, launching himself at the fucker. He regretted it because the tray bounced off of an inner force field he hadn't expected and smashed into his face. Crashing into the shield felt like running into a brick wall, only less yielding. The other Jason had to be smirking; he didn't need to see the fucker's face to know. Body language conveyed the smug amusement well enough.

Rage swelled up, driving Jason to his feet to pound against the force field. It didn't do a fucking bit of good but the rage didn't let him stop and consider a different approach for a long moment. Precise pressure points didn't work. Using the tray as an edge into the force field didn't work either.

"What the fuck do you want?" Jason bellowed.

"This," the other Jason said.

He pulled a gun that looked way hell and gone too advanced for this world and pointed it at Jason. The way that the other Jason casually slid his thumb across a bar on the hilt made Jason turn to run away. He smacked into the outer force field in three steps, rebounding onto his ass. The other Jason waited until Jason had stood up again and then fired square into his chest.

Someone screamed, a painful, choked sound that made Jason think of a person being tortured while being strangled. He flopped to the floor while his whole body twitched like he was having an epileptic fit. The other Jason chuckled and calmly holstered his zap gun.

"You know, I really wanted to beat the ever loving fuck out of you," the other Jason said over the sound of the guards shouting at him to drop his weapons and put his hands on his head. "I was really tempted to let you actually take a swing at me. It'd be good to see whether I've learned enough to cream your fucking ass but this is too important for me to indulge my desire to pound you through the floor."

Jason tried to growl something obscene and threatening but his throat wasn't working any better than the rest of his body.

"I'll take that as a promise to take my life whenever you get the chance," the other Jason chuckled.

He pushed up his sleeve and exposed some sort of gauntlet that flashed lights at Jason. A couple of seconds later the other Jason pulled a band from his pocket. Jason tried hard to struggle as the other Jason grabbed his hair to pull Jason's head up so that he could wrap the band around Jason's neck like a collar. It stung as the other Jason sealed the thing over his Adam's apple.

"There we go," the other Jason said with a deep, shit-eating grin in his voice. "No more fucking with the Multiverse for you. Hopefully that will keep you from destroying everything until I can reverse the fucking mess you created."

The other Jason stood up, brushing off his pants casually. No matter how hard Jason tried to move he couldn't do it. He'd never been hit with anything that was this effective at immobilizing his body before. Between that and the continuing stinging of the collar, Jason's rage had him seething inwardly. Once he got his body back he was going to rip the fucking collar off, find a way out of this goddamned prison and hunt the other Jason down so that he could rip his spine out and beat him with it.

"Just so you know," the other Jason said with that smirky voice again, "if you or anyone else tries to take the collar off it'll blow your idiot head off. It's bonded to your skin and you will never get the thing off. _I_ can take it off but no one else can."

He stepped back and put his hand on his belt. Jason noted that in the part of his mind that wasn't frothing with rage that he'd been trapped so easily. That had to be how he was getting in and out so easily.

"Oh, and you'll get your body back in about seven or eight hours," the other Jason said. "Bye for now, asswipe. This is what you get for stealing people's lives."

He pressed the button on his belt and disappeared in another flash of light and sound. The guards poured in at Jason, shouting to each other and at Jason. It wasn't like he could reply so Jason ignored them. Jason had never expected the other Jason, the one whose life he'd stolen, to return. Donna was the only one with the ability to travel between worlds so there'd been no reason for him to expect it.

'Know you're here now,' Jason thought as the medical staff hauled his twitching body onto a stretcher. 'You're gonna pay for this, pay for it and then I'll steal your gear and the world can fucking kiss my ass. I'll be unstoppable.'

+++++

"Bruce, there's no sign of anything like what Jason said was happening," Clark said hesitantly.

"You're sure?" Bruce asked while staring fixedly at the monitors in the Fortress.

"Quite sure," Clark said.

He wanted to put his hand on Bruce's shoulder but he'd been so distant and strange since his return that Clark hesitated to do it. It had been so exciting to have Bruce back at last. Unfortunately, he didn't really have Bruce back. Sure, he was there physically but it was as though Bruce was still lost in time or at least inside of himself. Bruce had always been distant but never with Clark, at least not when they were in private.

Clark ran through all the readings that the AI had gathered one more time, taking the time to explain them one by one to Bruce. By the time he was done, Bruce was frowning even more fiercely than he had been when Clark started.

"This doesn't make sense," Bruce said, pretending to tap one particular holographic reading that was fluctuating wildly.

"It's minor," Clark protested. "That reading has been like that for years."

"How long and what did it look like before it started varying?" Bruce demanded.

Clark sighed and called up the full history of that particular reading of the curve of space around the planet. For the last few years the reading had varied wildly. Previous to that the readings had been completely stable, which actually was rather strange. He'd expected it to be somewhat variable but it had been a constant up until a specific date a few years ago.

"That's the day that Jason came back from the Multiverse," Bruce whispered.

"What?" Clark asked.

"That is the exact date that Jason and his friends returned from their trip through the Multiverse," Bruce said in what would have been a normal tone of voice if it hadn't been for the grim set of his face. "Graph the distortion out, Clark. How wildly does it vary? Is it increasing and if so how much and how quickly?"

"Ummm…" Clark worked the controls and pretty soon had a graph that showed that the variability was increasing in an exponential manner. "Wow. That's… probably not good."

"He was right," Bruce said with widening eyes that made him look younger than his years.

"Jason?"

"Yes," Bruce said. His expression had changed into a smile that held both pride and worry. "He was right. The universe is in danger. We need to get back to Gotham. I have to talk to him. This can't go on. It's reaching the point of no return from your chart."

Clark nodded. He shut down the computers and then flew Bruce back to the Manor. Bruce might be sure that Jason was right, but Clark wasn't so sure. Either way he would do whatever Bruce wanted, even if that meant seeking out Jason Todd. When they got back to Gotham the Manor was quiet. Everyone appeared to have gone out, even Alfred. Rather than stay there, Bruce insisted that Clark scan the city to find Jason.

One Jason was in the hospital with doctors hovering around him while they talked about some sort of attack that had occurred. Clark listened harder and found a second heartbeat in the Narrows that matched Jason's.

"There are two of them," Clark said to Bruce. "I'm hearing two heartbeats for Jason."

"Take me to the one who's not in prison," Bruce said. "Hurry. He teleports, Clark. We can't let him get away."

"All right," Clark said. He let Bruce wrap his arms around Clark's neck and then took off at top speed towards the Narrows.

Jason was there when they got to the heart of Gotham. He was standing on top of one of the tallest buildings there, studying a gauntlet strapped around his left arm. Clark studied him as he flew in at super speed. This wasn't the Jason that he was used to. The hair and equipment were different, of course, but that wasn't what distinguished him from the Jason that Clark had learned to be wary of in the last few years.

This Jason stood tall and confident without the cockiness that marked the Jason that Clark knew. He seemed more mature, more adult, almost as though the rage that had always marked Jason Todd had been burned off to leave behind something stronger and purer. Clark had to pull up abruptly when he reached the rooftop as a force field flared between him and Jason.

"Land!" Bruce snapped at Clark. "Hurry!"

"I hope you're right about this," Clark murmured to him.

"How often am I wrong, old friend?" Bruce murmured in Clark's ear.

"Point," Clark agreed.

He landed on the rooftop close to the edge of the force field. Bruce immediately stepped to the edge of it and placed his hand on the surface of it. Clark had to wonder if Bruce could see it the way he could. It didn't seem likely. The field wasn't in a color that humans could see.

"Hey Supes," Jason said without looking up from his gauntlet. "Hey Bruce. What's up?"

"You were right," Bruce said. "I checked with Superman and his Fortress has readings that show that something is distorting reality."

"Cool," Jason said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. He frowned at the readings he was getting and growled. "Glad that you confirmed it independently but that doesn't help this fucking problem."

"What's wrong?" Clark asked.

"I put a blocker collar on that fucker who stole my life but the distortion is continuing to increase," Jason explained. "It doesn't make sense. According to my math, which for fuck's sake I know isn't the best, it should have halted the progress. Instead, it's continuing. Much slower pace but still increasing."

Jason sighed and lowered his arm to stare out across the city. It was strange seeing him look so serious and calm. Stranger still was the feeling that Clark got that this was right, that something had been wrong but now that he was with Jason it was better than it had been.

"Could some sort of equipment be causing it?" Bruce asked, as always focused on fixing whatever problems he encountered. "Something that the other Jason brought back from another universe?"

"No," Jason said thoughtfully enough that it was clear he was considering it. "Well, sort of. If it were a simple gun or something, no. But if it was something more advanced like my gauntlet or belt, yeah. If it has an AI, definitely. Hell, my stuff is specially designed to fit in wherever I go. If he brought something back with advanced computers in it, then that might be what's doing it."

"The suit," Bruce said. He straightened up so that he looked like Batman even though he was in regular clothes. "It has to be the suit that Jason brought back with him."

Jason turned to stare at Bruce, worry in his eyes. His eyes landed on Clark and he obviously considered something for a long moment before nodding minimally and tapping the pack strapped to his right thigh. The force field disappeared and Jason strode over to Bruce's side.

"Where'd the fucking thing come from and where is it now?" Jason asked.

"Jason got it from another version of me on a different world," Bruce explained in far too tight a voice, "and Tim is wearing it now. It's his Red Robin suit."

Jason's face went so white that for a second Clark was worried that he'd pass out. His mouth worked as he clutched Bruce's bicep. Clark could hear the way his heartbeat suddenly spiked from perfectly calm to heart-poundingly fast. While Bruce supported Jason, Clark shuffled his feet nervously. That wasn't the response he would have expected, not after all the acrimony between Jason and Tim in the last few years, but it looked like this Jason had very different feelings towards Tim than the one Clark had gotten used to.

"Tim's wearing the fucking thing?" Jason breathed, horror on his face. "Fucking hell, Bruce. He's the center of the distortion then. As long as he's in that thing he's warping reality around him. We gotta get that suit off of him as soon as possible. Who the fuck knows what it's doing to him?"

+++++

The hospital wasn't exactly easy to sneak into, though it was less secure than the prison infirmary that Jason had been transferred out of. Even with his Red Robin suit on, Tim didn't want to officially ask to see Jason. After his encounter with the other Jason who couldn't be Jason, Tim had gone back home to discover that everyone was out. In the process of trying to find out where they'd gone to, Tim watched the other Jason attack and then put some sort of collar around the real Jason's neck in prison. There was no way he could explain to the authorities why he wanted to see Jason, nor how he'd known that he'd been transferred to the hospital once the infirmary staff decided they couldn't cope with his condition.

The attack didn't make sense. None of the other Jason's actions made sense. He was fond where Jason was hateful, calm where Jason was full of rage. The things that he said, while technically scientifically sound, were things that Jason would never, ever say. Tim could see another version of himself saying those things but the very idea of Jason being capable of saying them was laughable in the extreme.

So here he was, carefully making his way into the secure section of the hospital so that he could see for himself what had been done to Jason by the person pretending to be him. Not the brightest thing Tim could be doing but something that felt mandatory after the look the other Jason had given him. Tim really needed to confirm that his perception of reality was correct; there was no way that Jason loved him.

"There," Tim whispered as he slipped into Jason's room.

He'd been strapped down of course, though from the video feed that Tim had watched there likely was no reason for it other than fear of the damage Jason as capable of causing. Jason's eyes opened and then narrowed into a fierce glare when he saw Tim standing next to him.

"Odd," Tim murmured as he checked out the collar. "It seems to have bonded to your neck."

"'eep tha fu' off!" Jason mumbled. He jerked a little harder than he had been as if trying to get away from Tim's hands.

"I'll assume that was 'keep the fuck off'," Tim said calmly. "Have they tried to remove it?"

"'o." Jason's growled vowel said 'No' better than the actual word would have.

"Why?"

"'splo."

"What?" Tim asked, blinking in confusion. "Slow? No… explodes. It will explode if tampered with."

"'es," Jason grumbled.

He managed to nod his head very slightly though that set off another set of tremors that made clear to Tim why he'd been strapped down. It was rather like a grand mal epileptic fit, minus the drooling and loss of bladder control. Tim watched, timed the fit in his head and hoped that none of the nurses or guards would come check on Jason before Tim was done talking to him. Breaking in had been hard enough. He didn't want to have to fight his way out, or worse still, explain his presence.

"This is from that gun, isn't it?" Tim murmured once the tremors slowed. "It's not the collar doing this."

"Yes," Jason said, this time managing to get the full word out. "'uck'r."

Tim considered asking Jason what the collar was for, and why his double had attacked him. He discarded the idea after a moment of staring into Jason's rage-filled eyes. There was no point. Not only was Jason incapable of communicating clearly at the moment, he wasn't liable to tell the truth, no matter how important it was.

Instead he went for the door, carefully checking before slipping out of the room. His hack into the security system got him all the way to the roof without being seen. There were a few dicey moments but between his suit's tech and the skills he'd learned over the last couple of years he made it.

Rather than drive straight for home, Tim headed for Barbara's place. This still didn't make sense. The other Jason, the fake one, had to have some sort of plan. He was clearly up to something. Cloaking it as an attempt to save the world was a brilliant thing to do but using Jason Todd's face undermined everything. He would have been far better suited to taking Tim's face; everyone would have believed a Tim Drake spouting technobabble while trying to do incomprehensible things to 'save the world'. Pretending to be Jason Todd while doing the same only generated opposition.

Tim hid his suit under street clothes once he got to Barbara's place. She let him in after two buzzes, which made Tim think that she must be distracted by something. He hoped that it wasn't the fake Jason's math. When he got up to her rooms it was obvious that that was exactly what it was. Every single one of Barbara's screens was filled with various bits of the math. She was typing almost frantically at her keyboard while working through one portion of the formulae.

"What have you found?" Tim asked.

"This… this is the most incredible thing," Barbara said. She grinned at him, obviously delighted by what she was learning. "I always knew that Jason had a brain, even if he refused to use it. I don't think that this is our Jason but he might be on the up and up. From what I've been able to discover there is a strange effect that some scientists have noticed in the last few years. This might be a valid thing."

"He can't be Jason Todd," Tim said, a little appalled that Barbara was accepting even this much of what he'd said.

"Oh absolutely not," Barbara agreed easily. "He might be an alternate reality version of Jason but he's definitely not ours. Still, it's quite interesting to see a Jason who's sane and using his brains instead of brawn."

Tim shook his head at her almost warm approval of the fake Jason. All of that was irrelevant. They needed to know what the fake Jason was up to. It was bad enough dealing with the real Jason. He didn't want to have to deal with another Jason Todd making things worse.

"What does it do?" Tim asked.

"It looks like it's supposed to create a stabilizing wave pattern," Barbara said. "If it weren't for a couple of errors I've found in the formulae, it would be perfect for neutralizing the effect that the scientists I contacted have been worried about."

"So it does something good?" Tim asked in astonishment.

Barbara opened her mouth to answer him but the light and sound shimmer that marked the fake Jason Todd's teleportation went off behind him. Tim whirled, backing up a step at finding Bruce and Superman bracketing the fake Jason.

"Take off the suit," Bruce ordered in his darkest, most dangerous Batman voice.

"What?" Tim gasped.

"The suit, you have to take off the fucking suit," Jason said. He stepped forward and then froze as Tim went on the defensive. "Damn it, Timmy, stop being so anal and listen to me! That fucking suit has a limited AI, right? Well, it's from another universe. It's causing a disturbance in the fabric of reality, just like the other Jason does. I put a collar on that fucker but the suit is still affecting reality. You gotta take it off so I can get rid of it."

"Why should I believe a single word you say?" Tim growled at him.

"Don't believe me," Jason said, hooking a thumb at Bruce. "He's already confirmed it."

"Tim, take it off."

The tone in Bruce's voice stated very clearly that if Tim didn't he'd be on the receiving end of Bruce or maybe Clark doing it. Everything about this bothered him. There was no way that this was right. The other Jason couldn't be the real Jason. His device couldn't be actually designed to save the world. Tim simply couldn't accept that his suit, of all things, was affecting the fabric of reality.

"How did he influence you?" Tim asked while watching Bruce's reactions carefully. "He must have done something."

"Oh for fuck's sake, Tim," the other Jason growled. "Will you get over it and just take the fucking thing off? I'll make you a better goddamned suit, one that doesn't warp reality."

Tim glared at him. He truly couldn't be Jason Todd, not if he was making promises like that. Jason's eyes were full of worry and impatience, enough that he almost looked like the real Jason Todd. Instead of letting it influence him, Tim returned his gaze with all of the suspicion he felt. The strange effect that he'd felt the first time he encountered this Jason didn't appear to be happening. It might be the suit or it might simply be that Tim knew better now.

"Fuck."

Jason pulled his gun, the one that he'd used on the real Jason, sliding his thumb down the side of it. It hummed and Tim darted for Barbara's kitchen, only to be blocked by Clark. Before Tim could try anything to get away from Clark Jason's gun made a spitting noise and something struck Tim in the middle of his back. Electricity crackled over Tim's body, shorting out the suit and burning Tim's face and hands.

"Get it off of him!" Jason shouted.

Clark caught Tim as he fell but it was Jason who ripped open Tim's shirt, Jason who used a knife to slice open his pants and cut his shoelaces. The suit opened far too easily for Jason. His gauntlet was flashing urgently, making tiny beeping noises that made Tim want to struggle. He wasn't convulsing like Jason had but his body wasn't cooperating at all. In entirely too short of order Tim had been stripped down to his boxers and the suit was piled in Jason's lap.

"Okay, got it," Jason said. "I'll be right back. Watch over Tim for me, guys."

"No," Tim gasped, just barely able to get the word out of his mouth.

He managed to grab Jason's arm just as Jason touched his belt. There was a jerking motion that felt almost like he'd been turned inside out for a second and then they were somewhere else entirely. Jason looked down at Tim with shock and horror in his eyes. He dumped the suit to the side and slapped a bracelet around Tim's wrist that was nearly identical to the real Jason's collar.

"What the fuck, son?" an older man with Jason's voice said. "What happened?"

"The fucking suit," Jason said. "It's causing a distortion in reality. I need to get rid of it and you guys have the highest tech level of any 'verse I went to. Sorry to drop in on you, Chief."

"And your Tim's in his boxers exactly why?"

Tim managed to turn his head and look up at the Chief. He nearly started out of his skin. It was Jason, but a very different Jason from the one he'd always known. He was nearing sixty with grizzled hair and a scar on his cheek. Behind him was another version of Tim who was close to the same age, in his case with distinguished white streaks at his temples and glasses that looked like they were computer screens.

"He was wearing the fucking thing," Jason said. "Had to get it off of him and he fought. Blasted him at the lowest level. You should be okay in a couple of minutes, Tim."

"Heh," the Chief said with a wicked grin that was exactly Jason's grin. It made the other Tim roll his eyes. "Tim always has been stubborn as all hell. Nice to see that carries over."

"I'll go get him some clothes," the other Tim sighed. "Obviously neither of you care that he's mostly naked and probably freezing."

Jason helped Tim sit up, supporting him while the Chief gathered up Tim's Red Robin suit. Tim wanted to fight. He wanted to protest. Unfortunately, his body wasn't cooperating and the bracelet seemed to be affecting his perception of reality.

"It was warping your mind while you wore it," Jason said very quietly. "The thing is dangerous, Tim. I was serious. I'll make you a new suit that doesn't warp reality once we get home. I couldn't let you be endangered by that fucking thing, you know?"

"No," Tim managed to say though he had to concentrate very hard to get the words out. "I don't know. Why do this?"

"You're… important to me," Jason whispered after visibly struggling with his emotions for a moment. "Way more important than you realize."

+++++

Timothy studied his younger self's reaction to the kid's confession, not that it was much of a confession as those things went, but for any Jason Todd from any universe it was all but baring his heart and breaking into heartfelt song. His younger self seemed to view the broken words with suspicion, which made Timothy wonder exactly what had happened in his world to make things go wrong between them. Given that he'd been dealing with Jason Todd, Timothy's imagination supplied a whole host of possibilities, none of which helped him deal with his irritation with his version of Jason.

Rather than allow himself to get wound up over his Jason's repeated failures, Timothy focused on his younger self. It was odd seeing a version of himself who was that powerful physically. Timothy had never focused on physical endeavors, despite a facility for them. Intellectual ones were far more satisfying and in this world, far more valuable. As he studied Timmy, his glasses alerted him to something very wrong with Timmy's scan compared to the kid's scan. It was beyond what his glasses' computers could handle so Timothy went to his computers and called up the programs he'd installed after the kid's last visit.

His programs studying the curvature of the universe weren't complete yet but he'd already disproved the standing theory that alternate universes couldn't exist. Timothy wasn't about to admit to his rival scientists that he'd actually met a person, now people, from another universe, but that was part of what had started him down the research path.

"Interesting," Timothy murmured. The house scans showed significant differences between the atomic vibrational patterns of Timmy and the younger Jason. They should have been identical given that they came from the same universe, but Timmy's vibrational patterns were warped, resembling the patterns of the suit that the kid was rather volubly arguing with Jason about. Timothy determinedly ignored them. If Jason couldn't deal with his younger self then Timothy wasn't about to help him. They both liked arguing entirely too much and he wasn't getting in the middle of that little confrontation.

"Um, clothes?"

"Oh, sorry," Timothy said, started and staring at his younger self. "I sort of forgot."

"I noticed," Timmy said with a wry smile that made him look closer to Timothy's age than his own.

"Just a moment," Timothy said.

He had one of the house robots bring a spare set of his pants and a long-sleeved shirt for his younger self. A pair of warm house slippers should suffice for his feet. They were black and simple but they should be sufficiently warm. Timmy took them and skinned into them so quickly that Timothy had to smile at him.

"Cold?" Timothy asked.

"Very," Timmy said as he threw a fierce glare at the kid that neither Jason nor the kid noticed. "What are you working on?"

"Actually I was studying you," Timothy said. He turned back to his computer screens, studying the data. "You appear to have been altered by the suit."

"What?"

Timmy's shock was so severe that Timothy turned to look up at him. His younger self had gone incredibly pale and his mouth hung open in a way that Timothy could remember doing when he was younger, much younger. It was quite odd seeing a younger version of himself. It brought back many unpleasant memories of being the young student everyone picked on.

"Look at this," Timothy said rather than attempt to comfort his younger self. Data was always far more comforting than words. If you understood a problem you could fix it. Words were just words; they accomplished nothing. "This is your Jason's atomic vibrational pattern. It's quite distinct from my Jason's. My equipment is designed to detect those variations as I'm currently developing a unified theory of the Multiverse."

"Uh, wow," Timmy said with more than a little awe in his eyes. "So should I call you Professor Tim?"

"Doctor, please," Timothy said just a little too archly. "I have two PhD's, thank you very much."

"Doctor it is," Timmy said and laughed Timothy's nearly silent laugh. "So which is me?"

"This is you," Timothy said, pointing to the next reading. "This is the suit. I'm presuming, perhaps incorrectly, that you're from the same universe as the kid."

Timmy nodded while laughing that silent laugh again. He seemed terribly amused by Timothy's nickname for his Jason. Jason and the kid's argument had gone very quiet and very intense but neither of them had pulled any weapons so Timothy ignored them for the moment. If they did pull their guns he'd have the house systems stun them both.

"Now, if I superimpose your pattern over the kids," Timothy said while doing it, "you'll see that there are a lot of similarities but you don't quite match. My pattern imposed over my Jason's shows a perfect match. Now if I superimpose the suit's pattern over yours…"

"Oh my god," Timmy breathed. He clutched the back of Timothy's chair as if he needed the support or his legs would give out from under him. "I match the suit more than I do Jason!"

"Exactly." Timothy nodded. "I'd hypothesize that wearing the suit, being so intimately connected to an object from another universe has warped your atomic pattern. Not enough to harm you physically or mentally but—"

"It's changed me," Timmy said, rock-hard certainty in his voice. "It has. I know it."

"Will you just destroy the fucking thing?" the kid bellowed from the other side of the room. "It's unlicensed tech! Get rid of the fucking thing! It's your _job!_ "

Timothy and Timmy both turned to look at the two Jasons. Timothy's Jason had that mulish expression that meant that he'd decided that something was wrong, in defiance of all common sense and logic. The kid looked frustrated, worried and more than a little desperate. The suit lay on the floor between them, a supposedly innocuous collection of fabric and electronics that Timothy knew was one of the most hazardous things in the universe. Possibly in all universes except the one it belonged to.

"It's not yours," Jason insisted in just a little too loud a tone of voice. "You don't have the right to order its destruction."

"Please," Timmy said, cutting through their argument with one word.

"Huh?" Jason asked. The kid had an equally startled expression.

"Destroy it," Timmy ordered as if he was a general and three times his age. "I don't want that thing anymore. It's doing harm so please destroy it."

Jason grumbled but he pulled out his gun, thumbing it to the highest setting that was safe inside the house. The kid backed off a few steps, not quite far enough in Timothy's mind but right at the limit of the safe range. When Jason blasted the suit, disintegrating it methodically, Timmy shuddered and moved a bit closer to Timothy's chair. Timothy on the other hand watched the monitors, nodding once the suit's atomic structure had been broken sufficiently that it no longer had the cohesion to affect reality around it.

"Has that changed my condition?" Timmy asked very quietly.

"Ah… no," Timothy said. He did a more complete scan and sighed while leaning back into his chair. "I'm sorry but no, you're still warped from what you should be. I have no idea how to fix it."

"I do know," the kid said.

He came over and stood not quite in touching range of Timmy, though Timothy could see how much he wanted to touch. His feelings for Timmy were so very clear. Timothy rather wished that his Jason were half that good at showing what he felt. They'd fight a great deal less and Timothy suspected that Jason would spend a great deal less time sleeping on the couch or chasing other people's tails if he were.

"You can fix it?" Timmy asked dubiously enough to really spike Timothy's curiosity about their relationship.

"I can," the kid said with complete confidence. "I've got Babs checking the math and I've already started gathering up the equipment I need to fix it. Now that the suit's destroyed, I'll only need to plug that asshole who stole my life into the machine and it'll fix the mess."

"I believe you may need to include your Tim," Timothy said while pointing at his screens. "He's been warped so badly that I suspect that he will have a negative effect on reality if you don't."

The kid stared at the screens, his lips moving as he checked the data. After a few seconds he went very pale. He pushed Timmy aside and shoved Timothy's chair out of the way. Timothy wasn't sure how he linked his gauntlet computer into Timothy's system but he fully intended to set up protocols that prevented it in the future.

"Oh fucking hell," the kid breathed. "You're right. You're fucking right. I've got to plug both of them in or the Multiverse will still collapse."

"How long do we have?" Jason asked. He frowned at Timmy as if it was his fault and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Something less than 36 hours," the kid said. "Probably around 28 hours before my universe becomes a black hole and sucks every other universe into it."

+++++

"Why aren't they back yet?" Barbara demanded even though she knew neither Clark nor Bruce could answer the question. "He said he would just be a second, not an hour and a half."

"Maybe Tim going along complicated things?" Clark suggested hesitantly enough that it made Barbara more worried.

"What does all of this mean?" Bruce asked, completely avoiding her questions and Clark's worries.

Barbara glared at him without making the slightest dent in Bruce's attitude. She hadn't expected that it would do any good. Bruce had always been invulnerable to other people's disapproval, especially those who weren't Clark or younger than him. Instead of trying to get him to worry appropriately about Tim's fate, as Barbara still wasn't sure she should be worrying about the other Jason's, she turned back to her computer screens and started explaining.

Clark seemed to understand it better than Bruce did. He found several errors that she'd missed while Bruce just nodded occasionally and let them talk about it. She was fairly certain that asking the question was his way of keeping both of them occupied until Jason returned with Tim. As grateful as she was for a distraction, Barbara would have preferred solid answers to her questions.

"So," Jason said as he and Tim stepped out of a shimmer of sound and light, "if we set up the machine properly then I should be able to use Jason and you to reverse the distortion is, as long as we have a proper baseline."

"I don't see why you need to be the baseline," Tim snapped at him.

They both looked fine, much to Barbara's relief, though Tim was dressed in a strange set of black clothes that looked like a cross between pajamas and a sweat suit, complete with black slippers that closely resembled Dick's original pixie boots. Bruce straightened up and smiled his millimeter wide smile at Jason. Clark's nervousness dropped quite a bit, stilling his fidgeting. Even Barbara felt better, so distinctly that she had to wonder if it was an effect of that Jason's equipment.

"Because I'm the only person left in this 'verse who hasn't been affected by the distortion," Jason explained in a tone of voice that made Barbara suspect that he'd already explained it seven or eight times. "I've been gone. I've had my gauntlet protecting me so that I wouldn't warp the Multiverse. While it did that, it protected me from being warped. Everyone here has been affected by the other Jason. I haven't."

"Is that why we feel better when you're around?" Clark asked.

"Yeah, exactly," Jason nodded. "Just like the other Jason warps things out of true, I warp them back to what they should be."

"I thought that was just me," Clark said. He looked surprised.

"I thought it was your equipment," Barbara said.

"Why does Tim have to be hooked into the machine?" Bruce asked, apparently three steps ahead of everyone else as always.

Tim winced and looked away while crossing his arms over his chest. Jason got the most worried, tender expression on his face that Barbara had ever seen. She'd thought years ago that Jason cared about Tim but when he'd come back from his trip around the Multiverse he'd shown no signs of it. Apparently this Jason still did, far more obviously than he used to.

"By wearing the suit I've become another destabilizing force," Tim said.

He held up his wrist, showing them a larger version of the bracelets that Bruce and Clark were wearing. It was considerably smaller than Jason's gauntlet and clearly configured differently but Barbara thought that the same people might have made it. The feel was very similar to Jason's gauntlet.

"It keeps him from disrupting the Multiverse," Jason explained in a much more subdued tone of voice. He looked very worried about Tim. "It's temporary, like the collar on my copy and the bracelets you guys are wearing. Once I get the machine going hopefully they won't be necessary."

"For that I assume you're going to need the math you gave me," Barbara said.

"Hell yes," Jason said, heading over to her side. "So how badly did I fuck it up?"

"Not too bad," Barbara said. "It's nice to see that you're actually using the brain that you were given."

Jason snorted and rolled his eyes at her. He started tapping away at his gauntlet and suddenly her computers began scrolling through the math, downloading it to, she assumed, his gauntlet. Barbara noticed out of the corner of her eye when Bruce put his hand on Tim's shoulder in a silent question. Tim shook his head no, refusing to meet Bruce's or anyone else's eyes.

"Okay, that helps a lot," Jason murmured once he was done. "Seriously a lot. Cool. I've got to get to work on this. According to my readings we've only got about one day before things hit critical. The rate of decay has slowed but we're so far along that it's going to keep increasing even with the suit destroyed, that fucker collared and Tim protected."

"Do you need any help?" Clark asked.

"Sure," Jason said with an accepting nod that surprised Barbara. "There are a ton of components I need to get. I'd really appreciate a hand gathering them up. Already have the base set up and protected in one of my fucking double's safe houses."

"What do you need?" Clark asked.

Tim gravitated to Barbara's side as Bruce and Clark conferred with him on what was needed and how to get it as quickly as possible. They both seemed to have completely accepted this Jason as the real Jason. The longer that Barbara was around him, the more inclined she was to believe him too. He felt _right_ in the same way that the other Jason had always felt wrong.

"Are you all right?" Barbara asked Tim quietly.

"I'm fine," Tim said so shortly that it was obvious that he was anything but fine.

"What happened?" Barbara asked.

Tim glared at her for a moment and then seemed to fold in on himself as he gazed into space. "Wearing the Red Robin suit changed me. It literally altered me. I'm… no longer properly part of this universe."

Barbara stared at him, reaching out to touch his elbow. Tim shifted away from her as if he didn't want to touch, as if he was afraid that he'd contaminate her by allowing her to touch him. She frowned, reaching that extra two inches to catch him before he could run away. He'd always been skittish about touch but this took it to a whole new level.

"He'll fix it, right?" Barbara asked.

"I believe so," Tim said with what was probably supposed to be a smile. It wasn't very convincing. "If his machine works properly it should fix me while it fixes the Multiverse."

"Still amazes me that he's doing these things," Barbara murmured. She let his elbow go and frowned at how relieved Tim looked that she wasn't touching him anymore. "I mean, it's Jason. He's never been the most intellectual person."

Tim laughed his silent laugh, nodding agreement. Across the room, Jason finished passing out requisition requests to Bruce and Clark. Clark immediately flew off to begin gathering his things. Bruce grabbed Jason's shoulder, keeping him from disappearing.

"This will work," Bruce said. His expression turned it into a question.

"Fuck yes," Jason said with a confident smile that was reassuring instead of cocky. "Seriously, Bruce. Developing the plans for the fucking thing consumed all of my spare time, outside of the time I spent traveling and trying to figure out the math for getting home. Besides, I have allies with way better science and math skills who helped confirm it for me. They gave Tim his blocker."

"Another version of us," Tim said with a nod of confirmation. "Two other versions, actually."

"It'll work," Jason said. "We just gotta get the fucking thing built in time and then strap me, Tim and that asswipe who stole my life into it. Shouldn't be too hard at all."

Barbara let out a breath as Jason triggered his belt and disappeared. The feeling of rightness disappeared with him, though both Bruce and Tim seemed to have that feeling to a lesser degree now. Bruce nodded to Barbara and Tim before heading towards the door with Batman's urgent walk. Tim's shoulders relaxed a little, and then he did the folding inwards thing again.

"I just hope we survive it," Tim murmured so quietly that Barbara barely heard the words.

+++++

"I find it somewhat appalling that none of them know how to choose a truly secure channel," Damian murmured while watching the Jason who had been put into the hospital.

The chatter between Stephanie, Dick, Oracle and Bruce told him everything he needed to know about what was going on there. Stephanie was fighting hard against helping while Bruce and Oracle were fighting for. Dick was doing is best to keep everyone else calm, which as always meant that they simply yelled harder. While that was going on, the new Jason that Damian was fairly certain was the true Jason quietly went about gathering more technology with Superman's assistance.

None of that concerned him.

Damian studied the other Jason, the one who had been living here for the last several years. He'd had doubts long before any of the others had. His mother had been very fond of Jason. She'd spend years studying him, supporting him, attempting to guide him. The person that he had become before his trip through the Multiverse was not what she had wanted but he still held enough of the qualities Talia respected that she stood behind him. That was mostly in an effort to control what she'd created but the respect had been there nonetheless.

The person who had come back was not the same. Damian had been quite young at the time but he'd seen a sharp difference in the way this Jason treated his mother, as well as the way he treated everyone around him. It had been rather like looking into a warped mirror. He resembled the Jason Todd that Damian had known while clearly not being that Jason Todd.

When Damian looked at this Jason Todd he saw a reflection of himself that none of the others could understand. The way he moved, the way he killed, where he chose to place his safe houses and how he gathered allies, all of them were familiar to Damian. It was somewhat like looking at a future version of himself, which was appalling enough that of late he had been forced to reconsider certain elements of his training, behavior and personality.

"I do not wish to become you," Damian whispered at the other Jason.

Of course he did not answer. He simply twitched and growled at the doctors who had come in to check on his condition. The red haired Jason was clearly improving, though Damian wasn't surprised that the doctors didn't detect it. Stimulating one's body to involuntary tremors was a distraction technique that all assassins with the League learned. This Jason had obviously mastered it. Damian suspected that he was using it to regain control of his body.

Once the doctors left Jason's room the tremors stopped nearly entirely. Damian stood, emerging from his place of concealment across the street. He wasn't entirely certain when Jason had stolen the pen that he used to work his way free from the restraints. It hardly mattered. Jason Todd was free and standing somewhat shakily on his own feet within a minute and a half of the doctor's departure.

"Batman," Damian said into his radio.

"What is it?" Dick asked in a very near copy of Batman's growl.

"The red haired Jay is free," Damian announced as Jason slipped out of the window of his room and began climbing towards the fire escape a few yards away. "The effect of the blast has faded and he is making his escape currently."

"Fucking asshole! Goddamn it to hell, do I gotta do everything around here?"

Damian smirked at the true Jason's irritation. He had assumed that the true Jason was listening in. It was nice to see that he was right. Stephanie muttered complaints and worries while Dick tried to snap orders at Damian. Bruce cut across all of their voices.

"Damian, track him but be careful," Bruce said.

"I shall, Father," Damian said. "I believe that I understand him better than any of you do."

"Let me know if he gets close to my hideout, little D," the real Jason said. "I can't stop working. If I stop then we're all screwed."

"Understood."

It wasn't difficult following the fake Jason across town from the hospital to one of his still-hidden caches of weapons. He left immediately, apparently hunting for the real Jason. Jason was still a bit twitchy, occasionally having to stop as a wave of tremors wracked his body. He quickly mugged several men in succession to get proper clothes, shoes that fit and enough money to be able to go on. Damian checked his victims once Jason had passed. One would survive. The other two were dead as soon as Jason attacked them. Superman appeared at one point while Jason waited for a subway and Damian lurked in the background shadows. Surprisingly, his bright suit hid fairly well.

"Here," Superman whispered, offering Jason a small wristband. "It will let the other Jason find you when it's time to stop this one."

"Understood, now go," Damian growled at him. "You're too conspicuous."

Superman disappeared in a quiet whoosh of air that blended into the blast of air from the arriving subway. Jason took one car, stalking into it like the predator he was. Damian rode on the top of the car, clinging with little difficulty thanks to his training and equipment. He nearly lost Jason at the third stop when he jumped off of the subway at the very last instant. Damian frowned, displeased that the fake Jason had apparently detected that he was being followed. That suspicion was confirmed a few blocks later when Jason went into an alley. When Damian peeked Jason was waiting for him.

"The fuck are you following me for?" Jason demanded. He gritted his teeth through another round of shudders.

"I need a reason?" Damian asked.

Damian eased carefully into the alleyway, noting and logging every bit of debris, garbage can and rock that could be used as either weapons or as protection. Jason caught him doing it and his eyes narrowed dangerously. He truly did look stunningly like Ra's when he did that, despite the anomalous hair color that had bothered Damian ever since its revelation. It wasn't a comforting thought.

"Fuck yes," Jason growled at him. "Get off my ass, runt. I got things to do and you're not stopping me."

"I am not stopping you," Damian said calmly. He kept his weight on his toes, prepared for the attack that appeared to be inevitable. "I am merely following you. I am somewhat curious as to what you'll do to the fake Jason who is attempting to take your place."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Jason sneered.

The ruse of 'accepting' this Jason as the true Jason appeared to work to a degree. Damian could see the way that this Jason's shoulders went down slightly, the way his eyes lit up with concealed glee. He truly was terribly easy to read when one accepted that he simply had to have been League trained.

"I would," Damian said. "I have no intention of interfering."

"Yeah right," Jason said with a snort of derision. "Aren't you supposed to be reformed?"

"What they choose to believe about me is what they choose to believe," Damian said with a smirk that was immediately answered by Jason's smirk. "Sometimes it is best to take the long road to your goals rather than the short, more direct road. I will accomplish my mission in time. There is no need to rush it."

Jason's eyes went hard as rock when Damian said the word 'mission'. Despite being aware and prepared for it, Jason's sudden surge to attack took him by surprise. Damian dodged the bullet that Jason fired at him, mentally reviewing which training protocols could have been triggered by the word. He cursed mentally as he realized that Jason must have been reacting as if Damian was a rival assassin going for his target. Damian managed to use his grapple to escape the alley but on his ascent a bullet pierced his calf. He shouted and Jason laughed below him.

"Try stopping me with that, you runt!" Jason bellowed up at Damian.

He disappeared into the night as Damian cursed under his breath and wrapped his wound with a bandage from his belt.

"I lost him," Damian reported.

"Fuck," the true Jason sighed. "Just great. I'll be there in a second."

Damian blinked as the true Jason appeared a moment later. He truly was very different from the fake Jason. In this Jason Damian saw all the traits his mother had wanted to emphasize and few of the bad.

"Not too bad," the true Jason murmured while checking Damian's wound. "Come on. I'll transport you back to the cave but then I gotta get back to work."

"How will you find him in time to use him?" Damian asked. He allowed the true Jason to support him through the transition to the cave. It was seriously uncomfortable though not nauseatingly so.

"Trackers," Jason said as he passed Damian off to Bruce and Dick. "It'll work out."

"Do we have enough time?" Bruce asked while supporting Damian.

"…probably."

He disappeared in a flash of light and sound that was completely at odds with the reality of traveling that way. Damian frowned. They had better find and recapture the fake Jason soon. The real Jason looked entirely too hesitant about the timeline before he departed.

+++++

Steph waited until Clark left after delivering his latest load of raw materials for whatever device the fake Jason was creating. Once she was sure the coast was clear she snuck into the warehouse. He was in plain sight, sitting on a rickety little stool while welding two bits of metal together to form a guard around some complicated-looking computer work.

"Hey Steph," the fake Jason called. "Any word on the other Jason?"

"Not that I've heard," Steph said.

She stalked towards him, stopping when she ran into another of the force fields that he'd used to block her before. Being close to him made her stomach do flips. He shouldn't feel so right. There was nothing right about him. Jason Todd wasn't like this. He'd always been brutal, efficient and effective about taking care of women true, but brutal. Killing was what he did, not creating things and saving the world. Ever since his resurrection he'd been that way. It wasn't something that had started after his return from the Multiverse. He'd been that way all along.

"Why do you have this up?" Steph demanded.

"Crazy ass Jason roaming around while looking to kill me so I can't send him home to his 'verse," Jason said with a calm shrug. He didn't look up from his welding. Instead he smoothed one gloved hand over the red-hot seam he'd just created.

"Should you do that? I mean, isn't it going to ruin your gloves?" Steph asked as curiosity overwhelmed her common sense.

"Welder's gloves," Jason said.

He turned and grinned at her while wiggling his fingers at her. He was wearing a set of steampunk goggles that made Steph break into giggles. Jason huffed at her, which didn't do a thing to calm Steph's laughter.

"They're welder's gloves," Jason growled. His cheeks were a little bit red and not from the heat of the welding torch he still held. "Kind of cool actually. Feels like my hands are bare but I'm totally protected from the heat. Both them and goggles came from this cool-ass 'verse where everything's all steampunked."

"Seriously?" Steph asked. She ran a hand over the force field, trying to find how high it went and if there were any ways into it. It seemed to be a perfect semi-circle around him.

"Yup," Jason nodded as he went back to work. "Really liked that 'verse. We're all there, except Bruce. He'd never been born there. Tim's about his age and he's our leader. He's the Dread Sky Pirate Timothy, no shit."

Steph managed not to laugh at the idea of Tim as a sky pirate for all of about four seconds. Then she laughed so hard that there were tears in her eyes and she could barely breathe. Jason chuckled and kept working. He flipped up the goggles and set to work attaching several more computer components and then put them down again to weld on more guards. The machine wasn't that big but it looked incredibly complicated.

"Hey," Jason said as he worked and Steph slowly circled him. "Question for you?"

"Sure."

"Is Lian dead here?" Jason stopped working to look up at her with a serious, worried, almost heart-broken expression.

"Um, yeah," Steph said sadly. "Yeah. She is."

"Roy?"

"He's… not doing well," Steph said. "Kind of dropped off of the radar since Lian died."

"Fuck," Jason sighed. "Conner?"

"He's, well, he's more or less okay," Steph said slowly. "Alive, sort of intact. I guess."

Jason muttered curses under his breath as he got back to work. From the look on his face Steph thought that he was incredibly frustrated by how everything in this 'verse worked. She didn't blame him. Everything seemed really messed up to her but it was the way it was. There wasn't anything to do about it and offering this hope to everyone that he'd magically make it all better with his device was the worst kind abuse in her mind.

"You don't trust me," Jason commented once she'd made a full circuit.

"No, I don't," Steph agreed. "I don't think that you're the real Jason. I don't believe that you can magically fix everything. I really hate that you're tricking everyone into helping you do whatever it is that you're doing."

"I never said that I'd fix everything," Jason replied with far too much pain in his voice. "I can't turn back the clock. Everything that's happened has happened, Steph. I can't change that. No one that I know of can. Lian's still going to be dead. Roy's still going to be fucked up. The demon-spawn is still going to be a pain in the ass and Bruce will have all the emotional warmth of a sponge."

Steph squeaked a laugh at that but Jason kept talking, ignoring her amusement.

"There is no changing the past," Jason said as if he wasn't talking to her at all. "All I can do is keep the Multiverse from collapsing in on everyone and destroying all of reality."

"What's it cost?" Steph asked.

Jason glared at her, flipped down his goggles and set to work with much more the sort of anger that she was used to. There was a defensive set to his shoulders that made Steph cock her head at him. This wasn't the response she'd expected, not at all.

"You shouldn't listen to Tim," Jason grumbled. "He's just worrying over nothing. Nobody's going to die."

"Die?" Steph gasped. "Who said anything about dying?"

Jason stopped, looked up at her with his mouth open and then cursed a blue streak while banging metal components into place to weld them securely. Steph studied him with her arms crossed over her chest. He eventually slowed down and then stopped, turning the welding torch off.

"I won't let either Tim or the other Jason die," the fake Jason said with such quiet determination that it made Steph's stomach do more flips. "Especially Tim. That fucker that stole my life I'm not so concerned about but… I can't deal with another dead Timmy."

"Another?" Steph asked very quietly.

"I… It was a long trip home," Jason whispered, his words barely carrying to her ears. "Just accept that I saw a lot of crap that I don't think I'll ever forget."

"Tim died?" Steph asked, resting her hand on the shivery-cool surface of the force field.

Jason nodded, pushing the goggles up on his head so that he could look out into the darkness of the warehouse. He looked sad, absolutely gut-wrenchingly sad. Steph bit her lip, wondering what exactly had happened that made Jason look that way.

"One of them was in the Napoleonic Wars," Jason said far too gently. "He'd been shot, three in the chest, one in the gut. I… helped him end it quickly."

"Oh god," Steph breathed.

"I've seen him as a soldier, as a whore, as a mage, a scientist," Jason said, wonder and sadness flickering over his face. "Old, young, male, female, human, not. I just…"

He stopped and shook his head as if to clear it before turning to look Steph in the eyes with so much determination that it made her back up a step. This wasn't the Jason she was used to but she almost wished that she could allow herself to believe that he was the real Jason. They needed a Jason with this much strength and determination. All of them needed a sane, loving Jason instead of the one they had.

"I won't let Tim die, Steph," Jason declared. "I'll never let him die again, not at my hand. Whether you believe me on anything else or not, believe that. He won't die doing this. I'll make sure of it."

+++++

"Not good."

Tim sighed and stared out the window at the grounds. He should be doing something. At the very least he should be helping Jason create his machine, but every time he thought about moving away from the window to do so doubt paralyzed him. What good would it do? His mind and body were both warped. If he did attempt to help, who was to say that he wouldn't make things worse?

'Trust the gauntlet,' Temperance had said while hugging Tim tightly before they returned home. 'It won't fix your distortion but it will keep you from changing anyone else.'

Easy enough for her to say, Tim thought bitterly, not so easy for him to do. The truly painful part of the whole discovery was that the Red Robin suit had been quite literally his way of trying to find his own identity, to become a man worthy to stand beside Batman and Nightwing. He had wanted to find who he was outside of Robin or Alvin Draper or Tim Wayne or even Timothy Drake.

"That worked so well," Tim muttered.

He let his head flop forward so that his forehead rested against the cool glass of the window. He'd remade himself, certainly, into a monstrosity that was contributing to the destruction of the Multiverse. No matter how many times Temperance and Jay had reassured him that the gauntlet would protect everyone around him, Tim felt like he was contagious.

"Tim!"

Steph's bellow echoed down the hallway, startling Tim away from the window and towards his computer so that he could pretend that he'd actually been working instead of brooding. She flung open the door and strode over, still in her Batgirl outfit. From the look in her eyes she'd talked to Jason about the machine and what they'd have to do.

"What the heck is this about someone dying when the machine goes on?" Steph demanded.

"There is a statistically significant possibility of it," Tim said while typing in a search for the articles that Babs had spoken of on the distortion of reality. "Jason says that he can manage it."

"Why? What? How? Come on, Tim!" Steph grabbed the back of his chair and pulled him away so that he couldn't avoid meeting her eyes anymore. "Seriously, what is going on? All I got out of Jason was that he wouldn't let it happen and 'go away, I'm busy and you're distracting me!' What's going on?"

Tim sighed and rubbed his face with his hands, hyperaware of the weight of the gauntlet on his left wrist. He really didn't want to discuss this but Steph very clearly wasn't going to let this go. After a moment he gestured for Steph to sit down. Either she stopped looming or he was going to have to pace and neither were particularly conducive to a calm discussion. Steph grumbled but she flopped on the end of his bed, glaring at him.

"It would have been very simple if I hadn't worn the Red Robin suit enough to be changed by it," Tim explained. "The machine would have been set up for one DNA pattern – Jason's - and the scanners would look at White Hood Jason's vibrational patterns and then eliminated Red Hood Jason's vibrational distortions. A simple compare and contrast. However, because of the suit's effect on me there will be lot more work required."

Steph opened her mouth as if to ask a question but Tim held up his hand to as her to hold off. She nodded and made a 'get on with it' gesture at him.

"Now, Jason's going to have to input two DNA patterns, his and mine," Tim continued, "which ups the complexity by an order of magnitude. Also, he has to scan for the suit's vibrational pattern, and then also mine, which doesn't match any 'verse in existence. I'm unique. So that's several orders of magnitude of complexity. The machine will be putting a low-level current through us as it does it. The longer that goes on the more likely it is that there will be physical issues. I'm… concerned that it could cause some problems."

"Problems." Steph didn't need to make it a question. Her expression turned it into one just from the sheer concern and worry she displayed.

"Such as… heart attacks, seizures… stopping breathing."

Steph made a horrified noise. The next second he was enveloped in Steph's arms as she hugged him so hard that he thought that his bones were creaking. Tim awkwardly hugged her back, wishing that his internal discomfort didn't show quite so badly when people touched him. Her hug went on until he finally relaxed by tiny increments. Eventually she pulled back to stare at him with her hands on his shoulders.

"He says he'll fix it," Steph said very quietly.

"I know."

"Will he?"

Tim forced himself to meet Steph's eyes. He didn't want to. She was too perceptive to be fooled by a casual lie or even a not-so-casual one. The easy answer was the one that his heart gave him: there was no way that he could be saved from what he'd done to himself. His mind told him that was a lie. Temperance and Jay had had faith in Jason and the design of his machine. They'd helped him modify them for Tim's part in it. After a moment of silence that went long enough for Steph's eyes to go tight with worry and her mouth to get those wrinkles around it, Tim sighed.

"I don't know." Steph looked startled by Tim's words but he continued anyway. "I don't think I can know right now. This… this is far beyond anything I've ever experienced. I don't understand the math or the technology. I don't know this Jason well enough to be certain of his skills. There are others who do think that he can do it. He probably can but I don't _know_ Steph."

"Ah." Steph cocked her head at him and then hugged him again, this time a great deal more gently. She whispered in his ear. "I don't want to trust him. I do but I don't want to. I don't want everyone to be hurt again. We trusted the other Jason and we got hurt. I don't want to trust him."

He squeezed her a lot tighter this time. Tim rested his head against Steph's shoulder, remembering everything that had occurred between them. They'd been strangers, enemies, rivals, allies, dated, broken up, gotten together again. Through it all he'd thought of her as a friend, sometimes reluctantly, sometimes not. That she was worried about Jason and the plan actually made him feel better.

"If you two are quite done with your little emotional display," said Damian's biting tones from the doorway, "you may wish to know that the machine is almost done."

"Right."

Tim pushed Steph away. She let him, glaring at Damian as if she wanted to smack him. His calf was bandaged but he stood fairly easily. From the way the muscles of his jaw tensed as he automatically shifted his weight onto his toes as they approached, Tim thought that Damian was standing only through sheer will power.

"We should head over," Tim said. "There's still Red Hood Jason to catch before we can fix everything."

"And you believe you'll be helpful in that endeavor?" Damian sniffed. His leg nearly gave out underneath him when he moved aside for Tim and Steph.

"Probably not," Tim admitted. "Of course, I'm actually expecting White Hood Jason to beat the crap out of Red Hood Jason. I think he'd probably resent anyone stepping in to stop the brawl."

Steph snorted and then laughed. Damian's lips curled into something that was almost an amused smile. On anyone else Tim would have called it a near-grin. He shivered involuntarily at the thought that maybe he wasn't seeing Damian clearly. The distortion from the suit might have affected how he interacted with Damian, as well as the others.

"Quit that," Damian snapped at him. "I can see you thinking too hard."

"I can see you limping," Tim said, glaring back at him.

"Boys," Steph sighed. "You two are seriously too much alike."

"I beg your pardon!" Tim growled, switching his glare over to her as they got in the elevator to go down to the cave.

"I demand that you take that back immediately!" Damian snarled. "I am nothing like him!"

Steph ignored them both, punched the button and grinned at their respective rants about the other's failures. Tim absolutely refused to acknowledge that there was a strong similarity between their respective offense and overly intellectual language. The last thing in the world he wanted to be was like Damian Wayne.

+++++

"Done," Jason sighed as he finished downloading the op sys into the machine and setting it up.

"Now what?" Clark asked, twitching a little from sheer nerves.

"Now I catch my fucking double and strap his sorry ass into the thing," Jason said. "Shouldn't be too hard. The fucker has a collar on him and I can track that. Can't blast him with my pulse gun without shorting out the collar but that's fine by me. I really want a piece of him."

"I thought you got over that sort of thing," Bruce said from the entrance to the warehouse.

Tim, Steph, Damian and Dick were with him. Steph had her best 'don't trust you' face on while Damian looked surprisingly mobile for a kid with a bullet hole through his calf. Dick and Bruce seemed okay, though it seemed really weird to see Bruce standing next to Batman. It was Tim that had Jason worried. He had a fatalistic expression that was attempting to masquerade as determined.

"Hell, don't expect miracles," Jason said with a cocky grin. "I'm still me."

"Do you need help?" Clark asked.

"Nah, I'm faster than you are," Jason said. "It'd help if you could keep an eye on this place for me. The shield's set to stay up so that no one can get in at the machine but you never know."

Clark's mouth dropped open at Jason saying that he was faster, but it was true. With his belt he was faster. While Clark had to go through the space between him and his target, Jason could teleport straight there. Bruce rested his hand on Clark's shoulder, anchoring him in place.

"Keep an eye on everyone for me, Steph," Jason called.

He laughed at her growl and set his belt to locate the other Jason's collar. Slipping on his White Hood helmet took a second, during which Tim strode over as if to grab Jason's arm to stop him. Before Tim or anyone else could interfere, Jason was pushed the button and was gone. This was too important for more discussion. The hours left before the end of the world had already drained away into minutes.

When he materialized the other Jason's fist was already flying for his face. He'd expected that. Jason grinned and blocked, throwing a punch of his own that his double blocked too. They were on a rooftop across from the warehouse. It was just far enough away that Jason's proximity monitors hadn't gone off but close enough that Red Hood Jason could watch what Jason was doing. Jason grinned at his double.

"Nice location."

"Fuck off, I'm not going back!" The other Jason had located his Red Hood helmet so they were well matched in their respective 'costumes'. "You can't make me go back!"

"Can and will, asswipe," Jason drawled.

Red Hood charged, tackling Jason while grabbing for the belt. Jason let him get a grip and then elbowed him in the jaw hard enough to draw a grunt from Red Hood. He used that moment of distraction to set his belt to cycle through the Multiverse, starting with the 'verses that he'd visited on his way back home. The disorientation was something Jason barely felt anymore but Red Hood had never been through it before. It should help.

"Gonna kill you!" Red Hood shouted and then grunted as the program started running and they flipped to the first world.

It was the Poison Ivy world, the first one that Jason had ever gone to. Red Hood staggered, unprepared for the shift. Jason hit him in the gut as hard as he could. That was apparently what Red Hood needed to get a grip on himself. He shouted and grabbed Jason's collar just as they flipped to another world.

Breaking the grip was easy with Red Hood staggering. They fought, pounding on each other while jumping from world to world. Jason kind of thought that the more primitive worlds they visited would tell tales of gods fighting or angels battling demons. The plague world Tim would probably recognize his angel. The only question was whether the angels or the demons would win this battle, not that Jason was going to allow himself to doubt.

"Stop it!" Red Hood bellowed as they cycled back to home for a few seconds and then out to worlds that Jason hadn't visited yet.

"Not fucking likely," Jason snapped.

He got a good kick into Red Hood's knee, hearing and feeling the bone there crunch with a sense of deep satisfaction that almost made him sick. It was too much like the sound his knee had made when he'd fought tentacle Dick. He took a blow to the ribs that broke bone but managed to rock with it well enough that the ribs were only cracked instead of being driven into his internal organs. Red Hood stayed up, balancing on one leg with a pretty amazing degree of agility.

"Make it stop!" Red Hood panted as they bounced back to home and then off to the Training Ground 'verse and then onwards to the one with dragon Jason.

"Not until you go down!" Jason yelled at him.

They bounced again, landing in Jay and Temperance's cave. He heard startled shouts in the background but didn't pay any attention to them until Damian flew out of the darkness and took out Red Hood's remaining good knee.

"Thanks D!" Jason shouted while landing on Red Hood and pounding his head into the floor to stun him.

"Stop calling me that!" Damian shouted back at Jason just before the flipped worlds again.

Pounding Red Hood's head against dirt in the next 'verse wasn't as effective but ten seconds later they were on rock and it worked really well even with Red Hood's fingers clawing at Jason's throat. Another jump put them on the edge of a fiery pit, and then in the middle of a pile of bodies in vampire Tim's Batcave. Vampire Tim darted in and hit Red Hood so hard that his body convulsed and he went limp.

"Don't eat him!" Jason panted. He stopped the flipping, turned on the white noise and then groaned at how many bruises he'd gathered during the fight. "Fuck, that was enormously helpful, Tim. I think I gotta come back and help you take out your Jason for that."

"Actually, I already did," vampire Tim said with a little snort of amusement. "He was quite tasty. I thought I told you not to come back."

"Yeah, but that bastard had to be stopped," Jason replied. "We were flipping through 'verses and went through… wow, over five hundred verses before he went down. I'll get out of your hair. Seriously, thanks for the help."

"Stop coming back," vampire Tim growled at him. "I don't like being reminded of what could have been."

"Got it." Jason nodded. "Sorry."

He grabbed Red Hood's collar and flipped them back home, to the warehouse. Everyone, including Bruce, jumped when he arrived. Damian was the first to hobble over to help, quickly followed by Bruce and Clark. Jason pulled off his helmet and sighed.

"All right, that's done," Jason said while lowering the force field around the machine. "Let's get this show on the road."

"You should have those injuries treated," Tim said with his normal intensity and very little of the brooding that had marked him before Jason's battle. Worry about others always had snapped Tim out of his funks.

"No time," Jason said while checking his gauntlet's timer. "We've only got about twenty minutes before the point of no return, Tim. I'll be fine. It's just bruises and a couple of cracked ribs. That asshole got a lot worse than me."

"I'm not sure he's going to survive," Clark said while carefully holding Red Hood in place for Damian and Bruce to strap him down to the machine. "He has flail chest, a lot of broken bones and a severely cracked skull."

"He'll live long enough," Jason said while helping Tim into his place in the machine. "Hold onto this and don't let go."

Jason took his spot in the heart of the machine. It was kind of like climbing into an open-sided version of the moon lander, except that the chairs were on the ground under the struts instead of inside of the box overhead. Red Hood was off to Jason's left, mostly hidden by a mass of monitors and controls. Tim was just to Jason's right, easily visible. Power cables snaked away from the machine like the roots of a tree. Jason was pretty sure he was going to temporarily black out Gotham but hopefully it would only last a couple of minutes.

While the skeleton was all welded steel, the guts of his machine was made of computer parts, plus a wave generator that was beyond anything anyone in this 'verse could create. Fortunately for Jason, the working parts of the generator weren't that complicated. They were actually really straightforward. The hard part of creating it had been programming the control computer, which Jason booted up and smiled at.

This thing was his baby, his brainchild, the creation that had consumed his mind once he'd realized that his home had to have been distorted by the other Jason's presence. Adding Tim into the programming had been a surprise but he had it covered. It would work. Everyone would be saved, especially Tim. Hell, Jason fully intended to save Tim first and then the rest of the Multiverse.

"Okay, I need you guys to back the fuck off," Jason told the others. "If you're too close you'll get caught in the energy wash and that's a really fucking bad thing. Don't be surprised if there's shouting. It's gonna sting a little and I expect that fucker to wake up in the middle of this."

"He will not get free," Damian said so firmly that Jason peered around a support strut to see what Damian had done.

"Damn, little D," Jason laughed. "You think you got enough straps and locks on that son of a bitch?"

"No," Damian said with a shrug. "He is League trained. He is an assassin like me. I knew it almost from the first moment I saw him. Unfortunately I didn't know what I was seeing until you returned. I had thought that he… obtained training while on his trip."

"Ah."

Jason nodded at that and waved Damian away. He went to stand next to Bruce with his arms crossed over his chest. Steph still looked like she doubted him but not as much as she had earlier. Worry was obviously overwhelming her determined cynicism. Dick's eyes were locked on Tim. His expression showed through the Bat mask to a surprising degree. He looked like the one thing he wanted was a last hug before Jason started.

"No hugging, big D," Jason growled at Dick. "You can hug the stuffing out of him later. There's no time left."

"What?" Tim snapped at Jason while glaring back and forth between Jason and Dick. "What do you mean 'hugging'?"

"Later," Jason told him. "It's time to do this."

He took a deep breath, hooked his belt and gauntlet computers into the machine's systems and then started the program. Electricity crackled around them, arcing between the struts and generator as Jason had planned. The lights in the room dimmed, flickered and then blew out as the current rose all around them. The others backed off several paces, leaving even more room for Jason's machine to do its thing. Red Hood shuddered and twitched in his place as if he'd been blasted by the pulse gun again. Tim had his eyes shut as he fought the twitches wracking his body. His hands were so tight on his contact that his knuckles were bone white.

"Come on, baby," Jason murmured to his machine while fighting against the twitches and muscle flexing that the low level current running through him was causing. "Let's save Tim and then the rest of the world."

+++++

Electricity crackled over the struts of Jason's machine, lighting the area and then blowing out the light bulbs overhead. Dick thought that the thing was like something out of a mad scientist's nightmare, with a whirling center part that looked suspiciously like a washing machine raped until it had been transformed into something else entirely. Lights blinked all over the thing, little flashes of phosphorescence from the thousands of computer components that Jason had used.

It was huge, intimidating and possibly the only hope for the survival of everything and everyone in existence in every universe.

"How much time is left before collapse?" Dick asked Clark in an undertone that hopefully wouldn't carry farther than his and Bruce's ears.

"Ten minutes at most," Clark replied.

His eyes were locked on Jason as he twitched and manipulated the controls of his machine. Dick's eyes were far more strongly drawn to Tim. Jason and his doppelganger could take care of themselves. Tim had been hit hard by the news that his suit had altered him, far too hard.

It wasn't a surprise to Dick. After all, the suit had been Tim's way of proving that he was his own man. For that suit to be proven to be a threat to all reality would inevitably push Tim into broody doubt and self-blame. In Dick's opinion it was yet another way that Tim too strongly echoed Bruce. Of all of the Robins, Tim was the most like Bruce and the most likely to have the same sort of self-destructive behaviors.

The machine sparked and buzzed, humming in a new way that made Tim gasp and whip his head around to stare at Jason. Jason didn't appear to notice. He was focused so utterly on the monitors and controls in front of him that Dick would have been surprised if he'd seen a full parade in front of his nose.

"What are you doing?" Tim yelled at Jason.

"Fixing it," Jason yelled back.

"Don't start with me," Tim complained in such a horrified tone of voice that Dick couldn't help but grin. "The Multiverse is more important that me!"

"Bullshit!" Jason snapped at him without lifting his eyes. "You come first. Fix you and the complexity becomes manageable. Shut up and deal. You come first, Timmy."

Tim's cheeks were bright red as he glared at Jason as though he wanted to gut him. Dick raised a hand to hide the grin that Batman would never display. Sometimes keeping in character for the Batman role was beyond his level of self-control. Steph had her hands clasped in front of her lips as she prayed for them all. Damian was so impassive that he might as well have been a statue. Clark looked worried. Bruce looked nearly as amused at Dick felt, which made him feel a little better about losing control of his facial expressions.

"Quit being an idiot!" Tim bellowed at Jason.

"Quit distracting me!" Jason bellowed right back.

There was a flash of orange-yellow light from the Frankenwasher over Jason's head. It swept down the struts and enveloped all three of them. Tim's mouth had been open to yell something at Jason but nothing came out. Instead his whole body arched as if his spine was a bow being drawn to fire an arrow. His eyes went so wide that Dick took an involuntary step forward.

Bruce's hand on his shoulder stopped Dick from doing something stupid. The strength of that grip told Dick more clearly than words could just how close Bruce was to breaking and interfering too. Dick backed up a half step, nodding his thanks to Bruce.

Tim screamed and this time they all took a step forward. He collapsed against the contact that he'd been gripping, panting. It felt like ten years later when Tim's eyes slid shut and he collapsed to the ground beneath his station. Jason cursed but he kept working.

"He's okay," Jason shouted to the others. "That's a safe place. Planned it that way. He'll be all right. Back off a little more. It's about to get flashy."

"It's not flashy now?" Dick asked without expecting an answer.

They backed away, slowly moving towards the wall as Jason's machine began humming louder. There was a crackling bang outside as a streetlight blew out, then a second and a third. The whole building started shaking in time with the pulses of the Frankenwasher over Jason's head.

"The… fuck?" Red Hood Jason gasped as he woke and jerked against the straps and locks that Damian had applied. "No!"

"Almost got it," Jason called. "Almost there!"

His eyes were locked on the control panel in front of him. The electricity from the machine rose and started arcing directly to Jason. It seemed drawn to his gauntlet. Jason paid no attention to the electricity other than flinching a little harder every time one of the charges jumped to his body. Red Hood Jason started cursing in a broken, almost bubbly tone that made Dick think of punctured lungs and ruptured internal organs. The electricity wasn't focusing on him. It hit Jason almost exclusively.

"Fuck," Jason gasped as a larger bolt of energy burned across his cheek and left a bleeding mark. "Damn it, cooperate you goddamned machine! I don't care if we're already at the limit!"

He shoved a lever forward and the Frankenwasher started wailing. The hum had been scary enough but once Jason pushed it the sound coming from the Frankenwasher became something that made Dick want to grab the others and run for their lives. None of them moved. If Jason failed there wouldn't be anywhere to run. Jason failing would mean destruction on a level that Dick was certain they wouldn't survive, not that he knew what would happen.

"What happens if he doesn't do it?" Steph asked as if she'd been reading Dick's mind.

"I don't know," Clark answered after neither Bruce nor Dick said anything. "He just said that everything would collapse in on our universe."

"All the 'verses would merge," Bruce said just barely loud enough to be heard over the wail of the Frankenwasher and both of the Jason's cursing. "There would be fragments of each 'verse mashed together. Only people who were unique to their universe would survive. We would probably die as all the other versions of us combined with us. Only the strongest personality would survive to live on in the body that was left by integrating all the various versions of us."

"Go Jason!" Steph bellowed so loudly that it made Jason laugh nearly as hard as Dick did. "You can do it! I don't want to end up with a dick!"

"It was a really nice dick!" Jason laughed back at her as he worked feverishly on the controls.

"Ewwwww! I don't want to know how you know that!" Steph shouted at him.

"The suit you wore," Jason replied, grinning widely. "I'll show you later. It's one hell of suit, trust me!"

Dick laughed at the dismay on Steph's face. He really had no desire to know what his other selves had been like, though he suspected that if they survived Jason would make a point of telling him all about it. All thoughts of the other 'verses and his other selves vanished as the Frankenwasher made a thumping noise that almost sounded like it was coming apart.

"Ha!"

Jason's triumphant shout was followed by a wave of yellow-green energy that washed down the struts and then across the room so quickly that there was no time to respond. It swept _through_ Dick. He could almost literally feel it as the energy ran though him like tiny vibrators working at the cellular level. Dick gasped and staggered backwards, colliding with the wall. Damian's leg gave out from under him. Steph squeaked and clutched her head as though she expected it to explode.

Only Clark and Bruce stood unmoved by the wave. Bruce lifted his chin as if he was facing into a strong wind and squared his shoulders. It was like seeing the Bruce that Dick had known before he'd been sent back through time return in one instant. Clark tucked his chin for a moment and then grinned so brightly that it was like the sun coming out in the dark warehouse.

A second wave swept down the struts and out over the floor towards them. This one was stronger, making Dick think that his teeth were going to come loose. He sagged a little, panting at the strength of the effect. The third wave was the strongest yet, and it was accompanied by horrible thumping noises from the Frankenwasher.

"Come on, baby!" Jason shouted at his machine. "Hold together for me. We're almost there!"

The final wave of energy that swept out from the machine was so strong and bright that Dick had to close his eyes and cover them with his arm. It didn't do any good. The light was inside of his brain, in his very atomic structure, shaking something loose and setting something right. Dick's legs gave way underneath him and he slumped to the floor.

By the time his eyes cleared, the warehouse was totally dark and silent. Clark and Bruce were huddled together, Clark holding Bruce as if to protect him. Damian was curled in a ball, other than his wounded leg, which stuck out at an angle. Steph moaned as she dragged herself up on her elbows.

"Let… me go… you fucker," Red Hood panted.

"Not happening," Jason replied. "You're going back where you came from. No more fucking the universe up for you."

He sounded like he was in nearly as bad of shape as Red Hood. Dick dragged himself to his feet, pulling out a flashlight so that he could see what was going on. Tim was just stirring from his spot under the machine. He looked perfectly fine other than a couple of small burns on his hands. Red Hood looked about the same as he had before Jason started his Frankenwasher up.

Jason, on the other hand, looked like death warmed over. He had burns and cuts all over his hands and face. Dick could see dozens of cuts along his legs. Blood was rapidly soaking his jeans. None of that seemed to matter to Jason. He was steadily dragging himself from his spot in the Frankenwasher to where Red Hood sat. It was obvious from the way he leaned at every step that Jason was standing only through sheer will power.

"Won't go back," Red Hood growled, or at least tried to growl. He was obviously too hurt to do much of anything.

"Don't get a choice," Jason snorted. He pulled his pulse gun and fired it squarely into Red Hood's chest. "You're going back and you're not fighting me."

"Jason," Tim said as he got to his feet. "Let us take care of your wounds first."

"No," Jason said. He shook his head and nearly fell down. "I scrambled his collar by blasting him. He has to go back now or it'll all start up again and go much faster this time. I'll be fine. I'll be back."

Dick moved to try and stop Jason along with Steph and Tim but neither of them were fast enough. Tim shouted something incoherent and desperately worried as Jason reached out to grab Red Hood's shirt with one hand while touching his belt with the other hand. Both of them disappeared in a flash of light and sound.

"He was…" Tim's voice cut off as his hands clenched into fists. The gauntlet on Tim's wrist slowly flashed green. It had been glowing red.

"He'll be all right," Dick said even though he wasn't sure of it. "He said he'd be back. It'll be all right, Tim."

They all turned as light suddenly poured from the windows outside. Jason's blackout appeared to be over but Dick knew Gotham well enough to know that they'd be very busy dealing with the trouble started during the darkness. Clark helped Bruce stand. They looked at one another and then Bruce turned to Dick.

"I think I need that back," Bruce said to Dick with a nod at the suit.

"Thank goodness," Dick sighed. "This thing has never felt right to me."

Damian grumbled as he levered himself back to his feet. His wounded leg nearly gave out underneath him. The way he looked at Tim made it clear that he knew that Tim wanted to take the Robin suit back, at least for the duration of the emergency.

"I think we better head back to the cave," Tim said without answering Damian's nonverbal question.

"Agreed." Bruce turned to Clark, hooking a thumb at the Frankenwasher. "Take that thing up to the Fortress, will you? I don't think we want to leave it here for someone else to find. Who knows what they could do with it."

Clark grinned and whooshed away. Suddenly the wide doors at the far end of the warehouse were open. It didn't seem like anyone would be able to lift the complicated machine but Clark managed it somehow. He flew out with it, leaving them to make their way back home.

"He'll be okay," Dick murmured to Tim as he headed to the Batmobile and Tim went with Damian and Bruce for the limo.

"He better be," was all Tim said but his expression conveyed his worry and fear for Jason far better than words could.

+++++

Tim knelt in front of Bruce, holding as motionless as he could and staring at one particular spot on the floor so that he wouldn't twitch unpredictably. Another failure to locate Jason had put him on such thin ice that he knew that his life hung by a thread. If Ra's had not been present for this particular dressing down, Tim suspected that he would already be quite dead. At the very least he would have more holes though his body than a sieve.

"You have not located him," Bruce growled in the voice that made everyone in Gotham run in fear. "Years of searching and you have not found him."

"No sir," Tim said. He was surprised that his voice came out perfectly steady.

"The one person in the world who returned to life without usage of a Lazarus Pit and you cannot find him," Bruce continued. His voice slid into a colder range, one that Tim had only heard just before someone died.

"No sir," Tim repeated.

"One wonders why," Ra's drawled from the sidelines. "He is a rather distinctive individual."

Ra's was sprawled elegantly in one of the manor's chairs, idly caressing his beard while running his fingers through Talia's hair. She knelt calmly at his feet as if she had no problems with being treated like a pet. Tim could just see them out of the corner of his eyes. Peripheral vision gave him a hint of Talia's sympathetic expression. He didn't allow his eyes to flicker sideways so that he could see whether Ra's would stop Bruce from killing him.

"Answer," Bruce snapped.

Tim flinched involuntarily, covering it in a slightly deeper bow. "I was able to track him literally up until one particular rooftop. After that, he was gone as completely as if he had never existed. If I believed that our mages were not competent and loyal, I would say that he used magic to go to a different world."

"A different world," Bruce sneered.

A shimmer of light and sound went off behind Tim. Every instinct demanded that he turn and look but it wasn't until two meaty thuds sounded behind him and Bruce gasped that Tim allowed his instincts free rein.

"Fuck," Jason groaned. "This so sucks."

There were two Jasons, prompting Tim to his feet to stare at them both. One was twitching and gurgling from injuries that looked to take his life in very short order if he didn't receive medical treatment. The other looked different, not just because of his darker hair but also because of the more open and mature expression on his face. He touched something on the collar around the fallen Jason's throat, making a satisfied noise.

"Who are you?" Ra's demanded.

"Oh fuck off, you know who I am," the other Jason grumbled while pulling himself to his feet. He swayed so badly that Tim wasn't sure that he'd stay upright. "Besides, it doesn't fucking matter. This piece of shit is yours. He clubbed me over the head a couple of years ago and stole my life, went to my universe. I just beat his stupid ass. If you want the fucker to live, I'd get him some treatment right away. No skin off my teeth if you don't. I'm leaving."

"You truly believe we'll allow you to leave?" Bruce said with his most dangerous smirk. "You can barely move."

"Heh," the other Jason chuckled with a smirk that was far more tired than impressive, "dead man's switch. I pass out; I'm gone. And yeah, I'm about to pass out. So see ya. He's all yours. Oh, the collar? It'll blow his fucking head off if you try and remove it. I don't trust the son of a bitch not to try and get to a different 'verse again. Sticking with you assholes would suck."

He waved a sardonic salute as his knees gave out underneath him. Before he'd fallen more than two inches the light and sound flashed again and he was gone. Only the original Jason remained, twitching like an epileptic and obviously dying of punctured lungs and flail chest.

"I see I was a bit too harsh," Bruce sighed. "He literally did flee to another world."

"Should I call for a doctor?" Tim asked.

His knees nearly gave way when he turned and saw that Bruce's expression had gone ever so slightly apologetic under the icy control he always maintained. That wasn't something he'd seen in a very long time. Ra's wry chuckle helped Tim calm a bit, as did the cool but approving expression on Talia's face.

"No need," Ra's said. "I'm quite curious to properly study him after all these years. We'll allow him to die, have the doctors check him out properly and then put him into the Pit to resurrect him. I think I'll be spending a great deal of time in the next several years with our Jason, a great deal of time indeed."

Ra's went over and knelt to study Jason's twitching face. Even in the middle of dying, Jason's fear of Ra's showed. Tim didn't allow any emotion to show, not in his face, not in his shoulders and certainly not in his far too revealing hands. After spending the last couple of years attempting to find Jason and being continually punished for his failures, Tim really shouldn't feel any sympathy at all. He was rather disappointed in himself that he did feel some measure of pity for Jason's coming suffering. It was something that he would have to work on. An assassin of the League couldn't afford to have such weaknesses.

+++++

"Damn it," Tim complained as she paced the floor beside the cave's monitors, "I wish we knew what happened."

Jay sighed and leaned back in the chair, tilting it far enough backwards that he felt almost like he was going to tip over and crack his head open. Tim didn't notice, which mean that she was really working herself into a lather. Damian watched her pace with his bitchiest expression on. He was still upset about the 'little D' thing, especially since Dick and Roy had both taken to calling him that.

"He'll let us know," Jay said as soothingly as he could when he was just about as worried as Tim was. "You know Jason's reliable that way. He may be a jerk but he'll let us know if the Multiverse is going to die."

"We already know that it's not going to die," Tim said in her most scathing tone of voice. "We're past the time limit. I want to know if he survived, the idiot!"

Jay bolted to his feet as Jason appeared in a flash and collapsed to the floor with a boneless thud. His heart nearly stopped until Jason groaned and twitched. He didn't remember moving from his place by the monitors but Jay was there with Tim and Damian to roll Jason over while Tim cursed at him for being a reckless, pig-headed fool who couldn't take care of himself to save his life, literally.

"Ow," Jason moaned. "More bandages, less cursing. Wanna go home. Need me."

"You moron," Tim huffed as she started cutting his pants off while Jay worked on removing the belt and Jason's jacket. "You're in no condition to go anywhere."

Jason rolled his head and grabbed Jay's arm in a grip that was surprisingly firm for how exhausted and injured he was. Determination showed in his eyes as he glared up at Jay. Jay held Jason's arm, seeing the exact same thing that had originally prompted him to help Jason design a way to travel the Multiverse. That level of need and love was too compelling for Jay to resist.

"Home," Jason said to Jay and Jay alone.

"I know," Jason said, patting his arm. "Bandages first, then home."

"Fuck yes."

Jason finally collapsed back against the floor. His eyes slid shut and a tiny snore slipped out of his lips. Damian snorted from his spot a few feet away. Jay helped Tim finish stripping Jason. Bandaging his wounds and treating the burns took half an hour, during which Jason barely twitched. He was obviously complete exhausted.

"He's been going without sleep for almost three days," Jay commented after checking Jason's gauntlet.

"I told you that he's an idiot," Tim said. "I swear he has absolutely no common sense."

They used the elevator to get Jason up to his room. Jay made sure to put fresh clothes next to Jason's bed after Tim left the room with his belt. Tim might think that she'd keep him there until he healed but Jay knew better. There was no keeping Jason away from his Tim, anymore than you could have kept Jay away from her.

"Sleep," Jay murmured as he pulled the covers up. "He's got to be busy dealing with the aftermath of your machine. Better to rest than hamper him by collapsing and needing care there."

Jason grumbled something in his sleep that sounded like 'g'way, sleeping' while waving a couple of fingers at Jay. He grinned and left the room. Knowing Jason, he'd sleep for at least twelve hours and then be irate that Tim had stolen his belt again. Jay headed downstairs to find Tim. Come what may, he'd help Jay get home. He'd promised a long while ago and then again before Jay passed out.

It would be worth it even if he would end up sleeping on the couch for a month.

+++++

Jason groaned as pain drove him out of slumber and back into awareness. His entire body ached. The Chief's Tim would probably say that he'd done something horrible to himself by allowing that level of current run through his body. Temperance would likely smack him and make him stay in bed until he was less bruised and achy.

The thought of Temperance made Jason's eyes fly open. His spare clothes were sitting on the bedside table. His jacket was on the back of the desk chair across the room. His gauntlet was on his arm, as always.

The belt was nowhere to be seen.

"Fucking bitch!" Jason swore while throwing back the covers and struggling to his feet. "Goddamn it, I am going home, not staying here!"

He was covered in bandages, the synth-skin sort that would let him shower freely. Dried blood stuck to his legs in places, making him itch. Jason grabbed the clothes and stomped into the shower to get clean. The heat of the water helped loose up the muscles of his body that had cramped while he slept. By the time he got out of the shower he felt a lot better, other than the same old rage that he'd thought he'd conquered during his search for home.

"I am not staying here," Jason grumbled while struggling to pull dry jeans up wet legs. "This isn't my fucking home and that bitch cannot make me stay here. My Tim needs me. Bruce needs me. Hell, even Dick and the demon-spawn need me. This isn't my home and I am not staying!"

Jason built rage-filled arguments in his head while he dressed. As he tied his shoes he tore those arguments down and built highly detailed and logical ones. Those gave way to emotional appeals full of passion as he pulled on his jacket, checked his gauntlet and realized that he'd been asleep for over eighteen hours.

"Temperance!" Jason bellowed as he stormed down the stairs towards the kitchen. It was lunchtime so she should be there with Alfred and the others. If she'd run away with his belt he'd hunt her ass down. "Give it back!"

"You need to rest," Tim said. She glared at him when he stomped into the kitchen. The belt was around her waist.

"Tim," Jay said so calmly that she turned to him with a curious look.

Jay grabbed her and kissed her so deeply that she groaned into his mouth and wrapped her arms around Jay's neck. While he kissed her, Jay slipped the belt off of her waist and held it out to Jason. Jason grabbed it and immediately strapped it on, chuckling at Jay's sneakiness. That trick was one he was going to have to remember for dealing with his Tim.

"You cheat!" Tim gasped once she realized what Jay had done.

"Tim, let him go home," Jay said in that same calm, gentle tone of voice. "His Tim has to be out of his mind with worry."

Tim opened her mouth to protest, looked at Jason, and then back at Jay. She shut her mouth and sat on her stool with a pout that said just how annoyed she was. Jason had heard way too many times how much it annoyed her when Jay used that sort of argument to win. Jay rubbed her back and then grinned at Jason.

"Go on. Go home," Jay said. "Bring your Tim back for a visit once things settle down. We'll all want to hear how things went for you. Looking at the downloads from your gauntlet and belt aren't the same as hearing it from you."

"Will do," Jason said. "Just so you know, I'm setting my home as the automatic return spot. You guys will always be secondary, though."

"Just go," Tim grumbled at him. "Go on. Get out of here."

"See you!" Jason laughed.

He materialized in the Batcave. It was quiet and still, just the rustle of sleepy bats over his head. At 11:30 in the morning it should be quiet. Even the Bat family that lived in the mansion overhead needed their sleep. Jason took the stairs rather than the elevator. He felt oddly like he was climbing back out of his grave. Every step made him feel lighter and happier. This was right. These were the stairs he should see. That was the secret passage he'd learned so many years ago. There was the carpet he'd spilled coffee on. Over by the window stood the wobbly little area table that Jason had broken after a particularly bad argument with Bruce, way back when he was still wearing the stupid short pants.

"I'm home," Jason whispered.

He let the joy fill him, refusing to consider that the others might not want to him to come back. If they didn't, fuck them. This was his home, his 'verse, his place. He'd stay in the mansion for a little while if he could and if not, well, it wasn't like he'd have any trouble finding money. The belt was still his and he'd use them as he saw fit. The rest of the mansion seemed still and quiet but there was light and sound coming from the kitchen. Jason chuckled and ghosted up to the door so that he could spy on the others.

Alfred was serving everyone a late breakfast around the kitchen counter. Clark and Bruce were snuggled so close to each other that Jason doubted that they'd be apart for a while. That was a good fucking thing. Bruce definitely needed Clark after all the crap he'd gone through. Dick was all but glued to Tim's side, much to Tim's obvious displeasure. He kept easing away from Dick only to be caught in hugs and drawn back. Steph and Damian were sitting next to each other while trying to ignore each other as totally as possible while they attempted to steal each other's food.

"Got room for one more?" Jason asked. He sauntered in with his cockiest grin, despite the way Tim's wide, worried eyes made his heart thump against his breastbone.

"Of course, Master Jason," Alfred said with his best imperturbable smile. "We're having pancakes and bacon, if that's to your taste."

"Sounds great," Jason said. "Serve me up a stack, Alfred."

He went and got a mug for some coffee out of the cabinet, serving himself as Alfred got him a plate of pancakes and about three times as much bacon as anyone else. Jason raised an eyebrow at the others and casually waved the coffee pot at them.

"Anyone need refills?"

Dick started laughing. He launched himself at Jason; hugging him so tight that Jason nearly dropped both the coffee pot and the mug. Alfred rescued them, letting Jason pound on Dick's back until he let go. Dick was replaced by Steph who punched him in the arm hard enough to make him wince before half-strangling him with a hug. Damian nodded regally from his place at the counter. Then it was Clark making his bones creak with a fierce hug and Bruce patting him on the shoulder. Tim sat in his place until Jason plunked down on the stool next to him.

"You're… staying?" Tim asked, visibly editing what to ask and how to ask it.

"Well, yeah," Jason drawled. "You know, went to all that effort to find home. Kind of be nice to get to spend some time here. Though I do know of this great little deserted island. Might be nice to take a vacation. Nice place. Lots of sun, sand, nobody around. Found a version of you and Kon stranded there. Kon had been shot but I got him back to Gotham so he could be taken care of properly."

Steph pointed an imperious finger at Jason as he pushed back his jacket's sleeve to access his gauntlet's archives.

"Do not show me the—Aagh!" Steph groaned dramatically as Jason responded to her warning by calling up the holographic image of her as a guy. "That is so wrong!"

"Whoa," Dick said with a huge grin of delight, "now that's a suit! I might have to redesign mine."

"I do not believe that he is wearing a cup," Damian said with an expression that had the same sort of fascination that a mouse had while gazing at a snake.

"It gets better," Jason said with a wicked grin at Dick. "Check this one out."

Steph burst into laughter as Dana, the female version of Dick appeared. Dick groaned and let his chin fall to his chest. His head ended up on the counter next to his plate as Jason called up images of all three of Dana's kids, who had obviously been fathered by different men. That led to Jason telling them about some of the lighter 'verses he'd been to while wolfing down pancakes and munching bacon. A long while into Jason's stories, Bruce frowned at him with a question in his eyes.

"What was the worst world?" Bruce asked so quietly that it was like getting stabbed or maybe like getting one of the highly rare Bat-hugs that always had made him feel like the world was coming to an end.

"Depends on how you define worst," Jason said with a wince that he couldn't control. "Worst on my body was probably tentacle-Dick. Worst fucked up 'verse would be a tie between the mirror goatee 'verse and the vampire Tim 'verse. Worst overall… I don't want to talk about that. That's… it's too much, too soon."

"I had tentacles?" Dick asked in almost the exact same fascinated-horrified tone of voice that Jay and Temperance's Dick had used. "Seriously? What did I do with them?"

"Tried to rape me and then almost killed me when I resisted," Jason laughed in spite of himself. The other Dick had asked the exact same question. "Broke my fucking knee on your balls. You had armored balls, Dick."

"He does," Steph said. She grinned at Dick and then nibbled her last strip of bacon while looking at him mischievously.

"I most certainly do not," Dick huffed. He was so appalled by the whole concept that he couldn't quite meet Jason's eyes.

"Was there one that horrified me?" Damian asked as though he knew he'd regret it.

Jason groaned and laughed and then shrugged. The clip of the freaky verse where Batman wore a blue suit made everyone stare in horror. Alfred coughed and put his hand over the projector before the really bad part could start.

"I believe that we have seen enough of that," Alfred said so firmly that everyone, including Jason, nodded agreement. "Perhaps you can take this discussion elsewhere? I do have to clean up from breakfast and complete some other chores."

"Sure think, Alfred," Jason said.

He gladly shut that particular one off. Jason doubted that his body could handle the level of alcohol needed to wipe that particular memory out. Instead of all going to the study or the library, everyone broke up and went their own directions. It seemed to Jason as though everyone needed a little time to process what they'd been told and everything that had changed. Jason followed Tim into the library, chuckling at the way Tim glared at him.

"What?" Jason asked. He leaned against one of the tables and watched Tim's expression cycle through anger, worry, fear, embarrassment, and into the sort of polite mask that normally meant that he was going to try and make polite chitchat until the other person became so uncomfortable with his inability to do it that they left. "I'm not going anywhere."

Tim huffed and glared again. "I'm certain you should be sitting down at least. Don't you have checking on the Multiverse to do?"

"I have absolutely nothing else to do," Jason said with a belly laugh that probably sounded as free as he felt. "I'm exactly where I want to be."

"In the mansion." Tim nodded as if that made total sense to him.

"Nope."

"Back in Gotham?"

"Wrong again. One more try."

Tim's cheeks flushed brilliantly red as Jason's grin at him grew into a face splitting smile that probably hadn't been seen since he was a toddler. He sure as hell didn't remember being this happy in years. Jason was pretty sure that it showed just from the way Tim looked at him.

"…with me?" Tim's voice was inaudible on the first part of the sentence but Jason picked up the end of it.

"Exactly," Jason said with a nod of his own. "Wherever you are is home, Tim."

Tim collapsed back into one of the chairs around the table, staring at Jason as if he'd lost his mind. He flapped a hand at Jason and made outraged noises that probably should have been a highly articulate rant about Jason being a complete jerk and what did he mean that Tim was home? After a second Tim snapped his mouth shut, closed his eyes and apparently counted to ten.

"You never…"

His voice cut off again and Jason laughed, reaching out to put a hand on Tim's cheek. Tim froze, staring at Jason with wide eyes that so resembled the creepy stalker eyes he'd had years ago, just in a grown up face. There was fear and vulnerability and so much doubt in Tim's expression.

"Of course I never said anything," Jason said as gently as he'd talked to Robins Tim or whore Tim. "I was a jerk and an idiot. I always knew you were interested but I sort of assumed that you'd go for Dick, you know, golden boy, gets everyone he wants? Made me mad and I took it out on you. Everyone else too but hey, I've kind of had some sense beaten into my brain since then."

Tim laughed, shaking his head at Jason. "A lot has happened since then. I'm not sure…"

"You never are," Jason said and shrugged. "I am. I know I was kind of self-selecting 'verses as I came home. It was part of the narrowing in process, part of how I found home. But that doesn't change the fact that in the vast majority of the worlds I visited we were together in one way or another. You've met the Chief and his Tim, plus Temperance and Jay. They're not exceptions, Tim. They're more like the rule. We work. Doesn't look like we should but we do work. You're good for me, hold me back and keep me from charging in. You take care of my sorry ass when I get whumped. I'm good for you. I keep you from brooding and getting all obsessive about things. It just… works."

"Just because it worked for them doesn't mean that it will work for us," Tim said in his most didactic tone of voice. His eyes showed the hope he really felt.

"Maybe not," Jason said, "but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try it. I mean, if you want to."

"Would you stop if I said no?" Tim asked.

He tipped his head to the side and watched Jason's responses for any sign of lying. Jason smiled at him, his heart hurting at the thought of not getting to touch Tim, not getting to kiss him. There was so much that he wanted to show Tim, so many places that he'd been that he thought Tim would enjoy. They could be good together but if Tim truly didn't want it, Jason wasn't about to force him. That was what his asshole doppelganger would have done and Jason wouldn't be anything like him.

"I would," Jason said sadly. "Wouldn't stop courting you until you made it fucking obvious you had someone else, but yeah, I'd stop. I'm not that jerk, Tim. I never was. He was raised on a world where Bruce accepted Ra's' offer to be his second. That Jason was raised like Damian, not like me."

Tim's mouth rounded into a perfect 'O'. He leaned back into the chair and stared into the distance for a long while. When he turned back to Jason his expression was a lot closer to vampire Tim's, which made Jason fidget nervously. Tim smiled and stood, moving to stand right in front of Jason.

"And if I said yes?" Tim asked with just the right tilt of his chin to make it into anything but a question.

Jason stood, pulled him into his arms, letting his hands rest loosely on Tim's hips. He could see Tim's pulse beating like a drum at his throat and temple so slowly leaned forward, giving Tim as much time as he needed to escape if he wanted to. Tim didn't. Instead he leaned towards Jason, carefully brushing his lips over Jason's in a feather-light kiss that made Jason's heart pound just as hard. The second one was harder, then the third had tongue and arms around Jason's neck and a full brass band could have marched right past Jason and he wouldn't have noticed that it was there.

"Nice," Tim whispered once they separated a few millimeters to breathe.

"Right," Jason groaned as he buried his face in Tim's shoulder. He'd grown enough that Jason could do it without bending his neck too much. "So right. You're so exactly right, Tim."

He blinked as Tim went stiff in his arms. After a second, Jason pulled back enough to see the borderline rage in Tim's eyes.

"And there have been other Tim's who weren't right?" Tim snapped at him while shoving free of Jason's arms.

Jason laughed and settled into one of the chairs. He swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. Tim frowned at him, anger fighting against his curiosity. It took Jason waving at the other chair for Tim to settle down and sit. His back was so straight that it was obvious he'd be gone in an instant if Jason said or did the wrong thing.

"Let me tell you about soldier Tim," Jason said. "And his near-twin, whore Tim. See, a few weeks after I started searching for home I landed in the middle of a battle…"

Tim's back slowly relaxed and his head tipped to the side ever so slightly. Jason smiled and continued talking. There was time to calm Tim down. He had so many stories to tell and only one person he wanted to tell them to, the one person sitting in front of him with worry, surprise and sympathy in his eyes as the anger and suspicion faded. Yeah, he'd found home at last and it was sitting right in front of him.


End file.
